Majestic has announced plans to acquire premium wine and spirits supplier Enotria&Coe as the retailer looks to expand its on-trade supply strategy and tech capabilities.

The company has an ambition to become of one of the largest suppliers of wines, beers and spirits to restaurants, bars, and pubs in the UK, with the move also facilitating higher investment in tech, people, and services across the two businesses.

Majestic said that both its on-trade specialist arm, Majestic Commercial, and Enotria&Coe will continue to operate as standalone businesses following the takeover.

Founded as Enotria Wines by Remo Nardone in 1972, Enotria&Coe works with more than 300 producers, including more than 200 exclusive agency brands.

It supplies a range of premium restaurants, hotels, and hospitality venues, including Gaucho, Rick Stein, Hotel du Vin/Malmaison, Bancone and L’Enclume.

The wine retailer said that there is "significant potential" to further grow Enotria&Coe alongside Majestic Commercial, with the combination of assets, "highly-qualified colleagues" and unique portfolios creating an "enlarged, highly competitive on-trade specialist with a best-in-class, differentiated service and product proposition."

Majestic Commercial is the fastest-growing division of Majestic since the business was bought by Fortress Investment Group in December 2019, with the B2B arm seeing double-digit sales growth across the past three years.

Speaking about the purchase of Enotria&Coe, Majestic chief executive John Colley said: "It is a business we have competed against and admired for a long time, with a quality proposition and cultural values that align very closely with what we already do at Majestic. We believe this is a compelling strategic combination and can see huge potential to further enhance Enotria’s proposition and profitability as part of the Majestic group.”

The move comes at a time of growth for Majestic, with the business last year making a wishlist of 125 cities, towns and villages for a nationwide store expansion.

This included 30 locations in central London where it could open smaller format sites, following the success of its ‘mini Majestic’ concept in Harpenden, Crouch End and Marlow, which all opened in its previous financial year.

In 2024 the specialist wine retailer also bought wine bar chain Vagabond Wines out of administration.

The move saved nine of the company’s wine bars from closure, as well as 171 jobs.

At the time, Majestic said that following the buyout it would further invest in the company, with ambitions to open more wine bars, use its CRM capability, and further develop both companies' offerings of Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) qualifications for its staff and customers.

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