Lincolnshire’s Docks Beers has announced a pub distribution partnership with independent cash and carry and delivered supplier, Dee Bee Wholesale.
Phil Bebbington (left), head of on-trade sales at Dee Bee, with Docks Beers director, Shaz Shaden
The deal begins this month and will allow the Grimsby brewery to expand its craft beer footprint across a much wider area.
It means that Dee Bee — part of Grimsby-based wholesale specialist The Ramsden Group — will not only be selling casks and kegs of Docks Beers to the pub trade, but also delivering them through its own extensive network.
“After growing our own delivery network over the last two years, it is an exciting gear change to partner up with such a well-respected wholesaler,” said Shaz Shadan, one of the founders and directors of Docks Beers.
“We are really impressed with Dee Bee’s rapid growth in the pub, bar, and hotel sectors, and the partnership should allow us to expand into areas that we could not easily service ourselves, invest back into the brewery for expansion, and redirect all of the time and energy we were spending on self-distributing in these areas.
“We have been selling Cleethorpes Pale Ale through Dee Bee’s wholesale cash and carry business for three years, but in the background we have been working together to build this more integrated partnership. It has always been our aim to be the dominant craft beer brewer on the bars of Lincolnshire, and this deal fast-tracks that objective.”
Phase one of the partnership
Nick Ramsden, managing director of Dee Bee Wholesale, said: “It’s fantastic to partner with a fellow Grimsby-owned company. The Dee Bee depot is only a stone’s throw from the King Edward Street brewery.
“The timing couldn’t be better. In the last 12 months we have rapidly grown our on-trade business in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire. Docks are brewing the best craft beer for miles around and so we see this as a fantastic addition to our product range.
“There has already been a lot of interest from publicans, and we have not even fully launched yet. This is just phase one of the partnership. it is our joint aim to add the full Docks Beers can range to our wholesale retail offering before the end of the year.”
