The story

The alcohol wholesaling market is worth approximately $13bn in the United Kingdom. Despite the market size, public houses, bars, and other alcohol vending premises are struggling to meet costs with allegedly 1 in 5 establishments reporting financial distress.

StarStock is seeking to address these issues by developing a service that puts purchasers (pubs & bars) directly in contact with brand owners and producers, alleviating the financial strain on the former while returning brand equity to the latter alongside other benefits such as data, ROI and reduced credit terms.

StarStock is a B2B drinks marketplace connecting brand owners directly with pubs and bars. By removing the middle-men such as wholesalers, the brand owners are able to pass this saving onto their customers. StarStock is focusing all its attention on helping publicans and licensees not just survive but thrive.

Founder and CEO Sam Ulph is an ex-professional rugby player who joined the industry in 2005 with the launch of Magners Cider of Ice. He went on to work for a number of brands through the sales agency Box marketing before joining Molson Coors in 2010. Out of a desire to help pubs thrive not just survive, and to fix the lack of price transparency and inefficiencies in the drinks marketplace, Sam founded StarStock in 2012.