United role for Gallacher

Chris Gallacher

SCOTFRESH managing director Chris Gallacher is to join United Wholesale (Scotland) as its new operations director, reporting to MD Asim Sarwar

Gallacher brings 23 years of retail experience to the role, having started on the shop floor as a trainee at Booker. Subsequently, he held a variety of management roles at Booker in the UK.

More recently, he joined the independent convenience chain Scotfresh as operations manager, and since early 2016 led the group as MD.

Asim Sarwar said: “Throughout his career Chris has demonstrated principled leadership, being customer focused, and demonstrating a strong track record of delivering positive change through people in challenging environments. I’m confident that he will be a great addition to the senior team and a huge asset for UWS.”

Gallacher added: “I’m excited to be joining United Wholesale (Scotland) and have been impressed by the enthusiasm and calibre of colleagues the business has recruited so far.  I’m looking forward to helping the business shape a new direction, very clearly focused on helping retailers survive in what is a tough trading environment.

“This willingness to experiment with new things, as well as the time and investment put into developing innovative ideas and customer-facing technologies, are arguably the reasons for United Wholesale (Scotland)’s current high standing in the wholesale industry. But there is no sign of the business letting up in the near future and there is still plenty of work to be done before we can really say we are helping our customers win the battle.

“I would like to thank the chairman of Scotfresh, Shaun Marwaha, for giving me the opportunity to run a great forward-thinking retail business.”