Andrew Cresswell has been appointed as the Chief Retail Officer, Bestway Retail and he will be in charge of the companies’ owned and franchise stores including the Conviviality brands acquired last year.
The appointment is part of a series of changes Bestway Wholesale announced to its senior leadership team, following the recent appointment of Dawood Pervez as managing director.
Cresswell joins from independent fuel retailer MRH where he serves as the managing director, Retail and takes over from David Robinson, who was instrumental in supporting the transition of Conviviality businesses – Bargain Booze, Select Convenience, Central Convenience and Wine Rack – to Bestway Retail since the acquisition in April last year.
In other appointments, Tony Holmes will serve in the new role of Retail Director, Bestway Wholesale, overseeing the retail sales proposition for best-one Symbol Group, retail multiple accounts and Bestpets, the pet retail division of Bestway Wholesale. The group said the new role will give independent retailer and pet retail facing teams, a clearer focus.
Holmes, who joined Bestway Wholesale as Sales Director in February 2016, also assumes responsibility for retail business development from James Hall who announced retirement from his role as Business Development Director at Bestway Wholesale as of June 2019.
David Livingstone has stepped up to a new role of Head of Catering as part of the restructuring, in a bid to drive further growth for Bestway Wholesale in the catering market through collect catering and BB Foodservice delivered customers.
Ashar Rehman has also stepped up to the role of Head of Operations, from his previous role as Regional Operations Manager. Rehman brings a wealth of experience, having held positions within Bestway for over 30 years and this role will be pivotal to facilitating excellent service for all customers through the companies’ network of 65 depots.
Dawood Pervez, Managing Director, Bestway Wholesale said, “we’re committed to ensuring we always deliver the best service to our customers, thus providing a clear solution for everyone; whether that’s a Franchise proposition through Bestway Retail, Symbol Group and Retail Club through Bestway Wholesale and Bestway and Batleys Cash & Carry’s, full-service delivered catering through BB Foodservice and Drinks Express or a collect catering range for customers in depot.
“At the end of the day, we want to provide customers with great service and excellent prices on the products they need, and splitting the retail and catering elements into two separate teams, and having Bestway Retail reporting into me, will enable all of our brands to be aligned and focused for the benefit of customers. It’s also great to have been able to both attract new talent and to have recognised our employees by appointing from within.”
