Copestick Murray boosts off-trade team

Drinks supplier Copestick Murray has boosted its national account team as its ‘I heart Prosecco’ tops the impulse and convenience sector for the first time, according to Nielsen.

It has appointed Alex Green to the off-trade team, where he will look after both convenience and multiple grocery accounts. Green was previously senior wine & spirits buyer at Buyco, the joint-venture buying business set up by Palmer & Harvey and Costcutter, and prior to that, the McColls Group and Sainsbury’s, where he was a category planner and buyer after joining as a retail graduate.

It is the latest in a series of appointments made by the company on the back of growth spurt fuelled by the success of the ‘I heart’ brand and Mionetto, the Prosecco brand owned by parent company Henkell & Co Gruppe.

Robin Copestick said it was key to have the right people in the organization as the two brands continued to outperform the market.

“I have known Alex for a few years and his work ethic, passion and insight has always impressed me. I am delighted that he has decided to join us,” he said.

In November, Copestick told db the company was beginning to feel the benefit of the Henkel partnership, with around 35% of its products – including Mionetto – sourced from its parent company’s portfolio, all of which was incremental volume.

It is now leveraging Henke’s distribution to launch the ‘I heart’ brand in Germany and the USA, which Copestick said was expected to boost sales to over 10,000,000 bottles in 2016.

The company is also eyeing up domestic growth across the convenience, retail and on-trade after boosting its team last year. New members included sales support executive Ian Dunn from Direct Wines, new national account managers for both the on-trade and off-trade, business development manager and a technical & production manager