Park Garage Group has been recognised by Forecourt Trader as the Top 50 Indies Retailer of the Year.
The Croydon-based business’s award is one of four that were last night presented to strong performers among the UK’s largest independent forecourt groups.
The Brookfield Group took the accolade for being the highest riser in the league table, climbing from 39 in last year’s Top 50 to 26.
Meanwhile, Fraser’s Retail, based in Oxfordshire, and Kilrea Service Station of County Londonderry were singled out as this year’s new entries to the elite grouping, which ranks forecourts by number of sites, followed by fuel sales.
Park Garage Group – sixth in the overall ranking by size – was picked out as the winner by Forecourt Trader for its recent range of successful innovations.
These include rolling out high-end, canopied charging hubs, with app-based touchscreen food ordering shortly to be introduced, as well as the introduction of its own bakery and food-to-go brand, which it is offering as a franchise to other operators.
The family-run business has also invested elsewhere in its existing estate with an in-store refurbishment programme and has added three forecourts since our last survey, taking its tally to 80.
Our other main award on the night was for highest riser. Dewsbury, West Yorkshire-based The Brookfield Group has taken its company-owned sites from eight to 12 and vaulted up the ranking, following what director Umar Patel calls a “deliberate and disciplined” expansion strategy that has seen it acquire underachieving locations with growth potential rather than “chasing scale for the sake of it”.
According to Patel, the business establishes a “clear development plan” for each site it takes on, which includes enhancing the convenience offer, strengthening food-to-go, upgrading equipment, and “improving the overall customer journey”.
The company says it will continue to “pursue selective acquisition opportunities” with premium convenience and food-to-go, operational technology, investing in a new generation of managers, and sustainable initiatives among its strategic priorities.
BP chain Fraser’s Retail and Kilrea Service Station, which operates under the BP and Maxol brands, both run five sites and join the Top 50 at numbers 49 and 50 respectively.
Co-op Wholesale’s business development & growth director Ian King collected the award for The Brookfield Group at the dinner, which was compèred by broacaster and journalist Declan Curry. Falklands war hero Simon Weston was the event’s guest speaker, sharing his story of resilience.
