Sellar Distribution
Rebuilding the distribution model
Today I’m announcing the biggest move we’ve made at Sellar to date: we’re rebuilding the distribution model.
How it started
Before Sellar, Matt, James and I were just fresh-faced kids looking for a way to be useful. One problem landed in our lap.
Friends who ran a craft brewery told us that selling beer to trade customers was “archaic and a ball-ache.” They weren’t wrong. I remember the disbelief when I first learned how things actually worked. One of the UK’s biggest industries — the drinks trade — was running on a slurry of phone calls, emails, outdated stock lists, and layers of middlemen who all needed their cut.
We didn’t set out with a grand vision. We just wanted to solve a meaningful problem.
We started small. In 2020, we launched Sellar Lists — giving buyers real-time product information and a way to order in seconds. For breweries, it replaced email-attached stock lists that went out of date the moment someone ordered, and cut hours of admin.
At the time it felt like a tiny fix. But looking back, those outdated stock lists were the first visible crack in a much bigger system that hadn’t changed in decades.
One problem at a time
Each year we learned more. Each year we solved more problems.
We built one product at a time, always with the philosophy of delivering as much value as possible. By capturing a small slice of that value, we’d be able to reinvest in building a team capable of solving the next.
Step by step, together with our community, we’ve been rewriting the playbook for how craft drinks makers and trade buyers work together.
In five and a half years, we’ve gone from £0 to powering over £50m in annual sales. The result of fixing one problem at a time. Always learning. Always building.
Building vision
Over the course of these past five years, we’ve seen the magic that goes into every pint — and the struggle it takes to get it into people’s hands.
We’ve seen the grit it’s taken to keep fighting through some of the hardest years this industry has ever faced: a global pandemic that shut down the routes to market, war and political instability that drove up the cost of raw materials, a cost-of-living crisis that capped what anyone would pay for a pint.
And we’ve already lost some of our favourite brewers — makers of some of the finest liquid in the country.
If things don’t change, we risk losing more. And if we lose more, the landscape shifts to a monotone. Pubs and bars become lined with the same safe, predictable brands — the character, creativity, and flavour of our drinking culture drained away.
We know what’s at stake, and we know the problem: margins are under attack.
Why distribution must change
Since the start, we always heard about frustrations with “the old way” — the outdated and inefficient wholesale and distribution models.
These models worked well 20 years ago because:
They gave buyers reliable, consolidated delivery.
They had specialised teams to handle logistics and admin — taking headaches and headcount away from brewers.
And crucially, there was margin in the system to support them.
But the world has changed. Costs have risen, margins have shrunk, and the old way doesn’t work anymore.
Legacy distributors rely on buying and holding stock, which comes with big problems:
Limited range — they can’t stock everything, with even fewer products now than ever before.
High fixed costs — warehouses, inventory, and large sales teams.
Eroded margins — they are fighting for margins that don’t exist.
This model is expensive, inefficient, and no longer sustainable. Even some of the most respected distributors — the ones who care deeply about the same things we do — know things have to change too. Some will adapt. Others won’t survive. Some already haven’t.
What the hell does Sellar know about distribution?
It’s a fair question. While, over the years, we built a vision for the future of distribution, we had no experience moving boxes. And truthfully, it was never something we wanted to do.
That was until about a year ago. This changed when we got talking with Chris Mair, who founded New Wave Distribution, about what “the distributor of the future” could look like. We were excited to find that he saw things the same way we did.
Chris had built New Wave into one of the most respected names in craft drinks distribution — a reputation for excellence that ultimately led to it becoming part of James Clay, one of the UK’s best-known beer importers and distributors.
Rather than keep talking about the future, we decided to build it together. And we’re delighted to announce that Chris has joined the Sellar team to do exactly that.
He’ll soon be joined by Alec Kendrick, formerly Director of Operations at James Clay, who brings further operational expertise to the team shaping Sellar Distribution.
Chris and Alec will be leading a team that have lived and breathed the cracks in the traditional wholesale model. They bring deep insight into what works and what’s broken. And now they’re bringing that experience to Sellar, where together we’ll build the future of drinks distribution.
The Sellar way
Sellar was born out of trying to help solve problems for craft breweries. That’s our DNA. It’s why we exist. It’s what guides us forwards. By solving problems together with breweries, we design solutions for breweries.
That’s why the future of drinks distribution will be:
One that gives margin back to brewers, and better prices to pubs, bars, and bottle shops.
One that means a specialised, consolidated dray — but with an unlimited range.
One that’s transparent and relationships driven. Where brewers know where their beer is going.
Sellar Distribution is what the distribution model would look like if brewers designed it. Because they did. That’s the Sellar way.
A new kind of distributor
Sellar Distribution will deliver the specialist, dray-style experience people expect — but without the inefficiencies of legacy distribution.
Traditional distributors rely on making a margin from every order. We don’t.
We’ve reengineered the model:
Unlimited range, no stock risk → Any product can be listed without holding inventory. That means buyers get access to the full range — seasonal releases, one-offs, limited runs — not just what a distributor is willing to stock.
Real-time availability, just-in-time fulfilment → We know what’s in stock and where. Products only move from a brewery once it’s sold, then are routed and delivered. That means fresher beer and no guesswork.
Maker-led sales → Makers own the customer relationships and tell their own story. That means they know where their products are going and buyers hear directly from the people most passionate and knowledgeable about them — which not only lowers cost, it’s what buyers want anyway.
More efficient logistics → a leaner model with lower costs. And because Sellar monetises through its software, distribution can be delivered at cost.
The result: fresher stock, wider choice, and more margin where it belongs — with the people who make and serve the drinks.
We can provide the distributor experience, without being a distributor.
We are the only player not dependent on margin from fulfilment. Our revenue comes from the digital tools we’ve spent the past five years building — so we can run distribution at cost. That’s why we feel like we have to do this, because who else can?
All the best breweries already use Sellar. We already have the widest range of products. Thousands of trade buyers already use Sellar Market to find and order their weekly stock. We’ve built the digital layer. Now we’re in a position to go a layer deeper and rebuild the infrastructure itself.
This is the biggest swing we’ve taken. It’s not a move we ever wanted to make, but it’s a move we feel like we have to make. Because if we don’t, we risk losing more of the makers who give a damn.
This is the missing piece. The future. The culmination of everything we’ve been building.
Let’s build it together. 👇🏼