The Today's Group has not closed the door on some kind of alliance with fellow buying group Landmark Wholesale despite adding a £1bn turnover company to its membership.

Woodward Foodservice has enhanced its distribution network, just months after its acquisition of DBC.

Lesley and William Brown, who run the Frankmarsh Stores off licence, grocers and newsagents in Barnstaple, north Devon, are the first independent retailers to publish their daily programme for the first National Independents' Week (NIW).

Makro UK's managing director Philipp Dautzenberg left at the end of December to become managing director of Makro Portugal.

Prime Meats, the specialist meat company which is part of Brakes, has launched four fresh pork products carrying the RSPCA's Freedom Food label.

MBL has announced that the company is following the FSA (Food Standards Agency) guidelines on food labelling.

Palmer & Harvey McLane has won a five-year contract worth £75m to supply Northcliffe Retail.

Bic has launched a new range of packaging for the convenience and impulse channel.

Nisa International won the Wholesaler of the Year title at Food From Britain Export Awards.

Budgens independent retailers reported excellent Christmas trading with sales showing an average like-for-like increase of more than 9% for the fortnight ending December 31, while on Christmas week ending 24 December, sales across the Budgens independent business were up by over 20% compared with last year.

The Nestlé Rowntree Manager of the Month Award for January is jointly awarded to Iain Bell, depot manager, and James Underwood, confectionery buyer at Parfetts in Somercotes.

Blueheath has taken delivery of the first of its own liveried vehicles as part of an ongoing transformation process.

Mintel has reported that over the past five years the smoothies market has seen sales growth of 523% to reach £134m last year.

New Year is the time for making resolutions, so perhaps "Let's save the world" is not such a bad ambition to espouse as we launch ourselves into 2007. The Federation of Wholesale Distributors is indeed playing its part to achieve this lofty ideal through its membership of a Government backed strategic steering group comprised of individuals from across the food industry.

A line-up of senior figures from the wholesale sector has been arranged as speakers at this year's FWD Annual Conference.

Nisa-Today's has re-launched its private label Burgundy wines under the Pont Neuf label, within its Cellars International brand. The four-strong range - Beaujolais, Chablis, Macon Villages Blanc and Macon Rouge - is part of the group's re-launch of its 16-strong private-label portfolio of wine, originating from Europe and the New World.

? Job title: trading controller

Lynne Watts, chief operating officer of Blueheath, left the company at the end of December.

Londis has appointed Martin Swadling as regional director for the west.

Octavian, wine logistics of Cert Group, has appointed Charles Craft as the new operations director for its Hoddesdon Service Centre.

Capper & Co, the Spar regional distribution company for South Wales and the South East of England, has announced the appointment of Richard Harman as trading director designate.

This year's Convenience Retailing Show takes place March 6-8 at the NEC in Birmingham, and groups booked to exhibit include Costcutter, Landmark, Musgrave Budgens Londis, Select & Save and Nisa-Today's.

Holmes Wholesale Services held a Casino in the Castle promotion at Belfast Castle late last year.

The Confectioners Benevolent Fund has announced that the 60th Anniversary Candy Ball will be held at the Grosvenor House, Park Lane, on March 24.

February

OUTRAGEOUS. But probably very effective. That's the thinking about Sir Terry's public relations campaign designed to distract the Competition Commission during its probe into the market.

Spar's south west wholesaler, Appleby Westward, is investing almost £200,000 in BCP's Accord voice recognition technology for its ambient goods distribution centre at Saltash in Cornwall.

Sanderson has won an IT contract to supply Cox's Cash & Carry and sister company Thurles Wholesale.

ACM Waste Management has been chosen by Brakes to provide a complete waste management and recycling service for its 62 sites across the UK.

Cert Group, provider of logistics services to the drinks sector, has unveiled plans to create a new service centre in Hoddesdon for its fine wines division, Octavian.

The FWD My Shop Is Your Shop (MSYS) special festive Caring At Christmas campaign scored a hit with a Northamptonshire independent store run by enthusiastic supporters of the activity.

The Spar store in the Cornish village of St Dennis near St Austell is a bustling local store at the heart of the community. Alcoholic drinks sales represent a major part of total turnover and, as such, the store was rich in potential for a Blueprint remerchandising exercise.

In its 12-year history, the FWD Blueprint team has reported time and again the sales increases that retailers have experienced thanks to the implementation of the Take Home Blueprint guidance.

With the debate raging in government and the media about so called "junk food" some categories have suffered badly, but for a fresh and chilled food supplier like Swithenbank Foods each new report can only add to its prospects.

Although publicans restaurant owners and hoteliers all run catering businesses, they shop cash and carries very differently and have very different business needs. This was one of the findings identified in HIM's Cash and Carry Caterer Tracking Programme which was launched at the end of 2006 after interviewing 2,200 caterers face-to-face while they were shopping at branches of Booker, Makro, Batleys and Landmark.

The best performers working in and supplying the wholesale sector were recognised at the annual Federation of Wholesale Distributors Gold Medals ceremony, the biggest awards night in wholesaling.

Mark Bowler, trading controller for Wholesale, GlaxoSmithKline, comments: "We are delighted to have been awarded the prestigious FWD Gold Medal for Service in Retail and that our achievements have been recognised by the FWD and the UK wholesale industry."

Britvic, is celebrating another year of success for its premium adult soft drink J²O, after it was hailed Grocery Brand of the Year at the Federation of Wholesale Distributors 2006 Gold Medal Awards ceremony.

Landmark Wholesale has received the FWD Gold Medal for Services to Retail for its Hot House retail programme. Managing director of Landmark Wholesale, Martin Williams, said: "This award recognises the tangible difference that Hot House is making and delivering real sales-improving benefits into the independent channel."

Twenty years after winning at the inaugural FWD Gold Medal Awards the Knorr brand has struck the jackpot again, scooping the coveted Best Foodservice Brand 2006 for the Knorr 100% Soup range.

The market for healthy options is continuing to grow. From food to drink to foodservice, the range and selection of healthier products seems to have expanded exponentially.

Cadbury Trebor Bassett is introducing Trident chewing gun to the UK.

Coca-Cola Enterprises has announced plans for Coca-Cola, Diet Coke and Coca-Cola Zero.

McVitie's has announced several new cake launches for the first quarter of 2007.

Heinz has launched a new Tomato Ketchup Reduced Sugar & Salt variety.

Dolmio has renewed its sponsorship of ITV's This Morning for the next year.

Nestlé Rowntree has launched a round of activity focused on the KitKat 2 Finger range.

Britvic has launched new TV adverts for J2O as part of a new ad campaign.

Cadbury Trebor Bassett is supporting this years launch of Cadbury Creme Egg with a £5m marketing campaign that includes outdoor and TV advertising, PR and a digital campaign.

Appletiser is extending its product portfolio with the introduction of a 100% natural pear juice drink called Peartiser.

Goodfella's is re-launching the Deeply Delicious deep pan pizza range.

Customer count and sales figures suggest our extended Saturday and Christmas Eve Sunday opening hours were worthwhile and paid off, but we still wonder why so many of our customers leave their buying so late in the day.

Our January Winter Warmers activity looks decidedly out of place and I think we can put the sledges and snow shovels back on top for another year. Still, we've got St Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and Pancake Day on the horizon, and our Easter selections are already in the depot.

The confectionery buyer anticipates more healthy, natural and sugar-free products backed by innovation in growth sectors such as gum and the imminent arrival of Wrigley's Orbit Complete and the launch of CTB's Trident Soft and Splash confirms this. The beer buyer says he is reluctantly awaiting calls from suppliers to expand his speciality selection and embrace Romanian and Bulgarian lagers and the wine buyer has already tasted some very good wines from these new EU entrants.

We are grateful to Diageo and other leading spirits companies for their ongoing support for our sector.

Mail order clubs and online wine retailers also traded very aggressively, some delivering at price points well below £4 a bottle.

MRC is targeting butchers, foodservice and catering establishments with its Flava sauce.

Heinz Foodservice has launched a range of new formats for its brown sauce brand HP.

3G Food Service has launched a range of chilled seafood starters.

Nestlé FoodServices is offering a trip to Argentina via its Chef range. The prize is a culinary trek to sample traditional cuisine and see the sights and sounds of Latin America.

Jus-Rol has launched the All-Butter Pastry in puff and shortcrust form.

Seafood Flavours has been launched to produce portion controlled sauce-coated seafoods in a variety of flavours.

Derek Moore, depot general manager at 3663's Edenbridge depot, part of 3663 First for Foodservice, the UK's leading foodservice distributor, is delighted to have won the Gold Medal Award for Delivered Depot Manager - Multiple.