Following its sale to French firm Charbonneaux Brabant, Tracklements has extended the range of European delicacies it is offering to the UK independent trade, while also setting its sights on expanding its sales on the Continent.
The deal, which has seen the Tullberg family transfer ownership to the Champagne-based company, was agreed last summer but has not been widely publicised until now.
“It’s exciting that we’ve found a super home for Tracklements,” said former owner and now-chairman Guy Tullberg. “It’s not a management buyout or a sale to a massive food group. This is a 150-year-old family business buying a 56-year-old family business.”
“Since the sale, they’ve let us get on with it,” he told FFD, adding that the business’s core principle of “speciality retailer first” and its ability to operate independently remained.
While he continues in the business via his chairman role, Tullberg’s daughter Ellie – a third generation “Tracklementeer” – is also still working at the firm’s Wiltshire HQ.
Among the other fine food businesses that Charbonneaux Brabant owns are mustard specialist Delouis, oil producer Vigean and Italian balsamic vinegar maker Giovanna Pavarotti. Many lines from these brands will now be available to delis and farm shops directly via Tracklements.
“With all these additions, we’ve sort of become a mini wholesaler,” Tullberg told FFD, who added that the move also opens up sales opportunities in Europe for Tracklements – a market that he said had become much harder to service since Brexit was implemented. Charbonneaux Brabant sells to some 160 different countries around the world.
Tullberg said his family has known the Brabant family for the best part of three decades.
Before Tracklements started making its own mayonnaise, its new French owner was supplying it to them. Members of the families have also worked for stints at each other’s premises.
Still based just outside Malmesbury, Tracklements was founded by Guy’s father William Tullberg in the 1970s as a mustard business. Over the years, it has grown its condiment repertoire to include many lines that have now become iconic in the independent trade, including Onion Marmalade, Sweet Chilli Jam and Sticky Fig Relish.
Charbonneaux Brabant, headquartered in the French city of Reims, owns a handful of artisan condiment producers across Europe. Other brands in its stable include Antichi Colli, mayonnaise brand Crown’s and vinegar producer Caroff.
This article first appeared in the August issue of Fine Food Digest.
