Food & Beverages E-commerce Insights
Food & Beverages E-commerce
Discover the fastest growing UK Food & Beverage e-commerce companies over the last 27 years!
By analysing the Fast Track 100 data, which ranks the UK’s top 100 fastest-growing private companies each year, we’ve seen how “Food & Beverage” e-commerce has changed from 1997 to 2024.
Key Insights:
- ‘Organic produce’ and ‘food’ retailers are the two largest sub-groups, each comprising 22% of the ‘Food & Beverages’ companies listed in the Fast Track 100 (1997-2024).
- There has been a notable drive towards organic produce and food & drink subscription services over the years, reflecting consumers’ desire for health and convenience.
- Abel & Cole (2006-08) and Graze.com (2013-15) have both been listed three times.
- Three companies have been listed twice: Hotel Chocolat Stores (2008-09), Naked Wines (2013-14), and Huel (2020 & 2022).
| Award Year | Rank | Name | Activity | Location | Sales £000s | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 50 | Abel & Cole | Organic produce retailer | Wimbledon | 13,368 | 85.74% |
| 2007 | 68 | Abel & Cole | Organic produce retailer | Wimbledon | 19,818 | 74.83% |
| 2007 | 92 | Riverford Organic Vegetables | Organic produce retailer | Devon | 23,120 | 61.95% |
| 2008 | 1 | Hotel Chocolat Stores | Chocolate retailer | Hertfordshire | 18,384 | 225.53% |
| 2008 | 81 | Abel & Cole | Organic produce retailer | Wimbledon | 27,939 | 60.49% |
| 2009 | 96 | Hotel Chocolat Stores | Chocolate retailer | Hertfordshire | 21,788 | 55.16% |
| 2011 | 3 | Diet Chef | Diet meal retailer | Edinburgh | 11,852 | 228.69% |
| 2013 | 11 | Graze.com | Food retailer | Surrey | 40,198 | 160.00% |
| 2013 | 16 | Naked Wines | Wine retailer | Norwich | 34,867 | 122.53% |
| 2014 | 25 | Graze.com | Food retailer | Surrey | 52,661 | 95.67% |
| 2014 | 79 | Naked Wines | Wine retailer | Norwich | 38,670 | 52.36% |
| 2015 | 86 | Graze.com | Food retailer | Surrey | 68,109 | 48.19% |
| 2017 | 91 | Eggfree Cake Box | Cake retailer | North London | 8,652 | 49.98% |
| 2020 | 7 | Huel | Nutritional meal replacement | Hertfordshire | 71,640 | 130.62% |
| 2022 | 18 | The Skinny Food Co | Health foods retailer | Midlands | 19,500 | 125.53% |
| 2022 | 63 | Huel | Nutritional meal replacement | Southeast | 102,690 | 58.07% |
| 2022 | 69 | Beer52 | Craft beer subscriptions | Scotland | 40,860 | 55.38% |
| 2024 | 31 | Wafflemeister | Food retailer | London | 10,500 | 127.44% |
Want to learn more about the Rise of E-commerce in the UK
Click this link to read more about the “Rise of E-commerce in the UK from 1997-2024”.
Britain's fastest growing private companies from 1997-2024
What is the Fast Track 100?
The Fast Track 100 league table ranked Britain’s 100 private companies with the fastest-growing sales over their latest three years. It is compiled by Fast Track and published in The Sunday Times each December. It ran from 1997 to 2020, until 30th June 2021 when the Fast Track company was closed down due to the Covid-19 pandemic causing too much uncertainty over continued sponsorship.
In 2022, The Sunday Times announced it was restarted the Fast Track 100. It is branded as – The Sunday Times Hundred 2022.
A typical Fast Track 100 company:
- is owned and run by entrepreneurs
- has between 20 and 500 staff
- has average 3 year sales growth ranging between 45% and 250% pa
- has sales ranging between £5m and £100m
- 25% of the companies have venture capital backing
Fast Track 100 League Tables 1997-2024
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