About
Us
* * *Here at Paramount we believe innovation has the key to unlocking sales in international markets. Across all our platforms and brands we ensure innovation and fresh thinking are core to our development.
Here at Paramount we believe innovation has the key to unlocking sales in international markets. Across all our platforms and brands we ensure innovation and fresh thinking are core to our development.
After graduating from Marylebone Business School with a degree in accountancy and business management, Ravi Sharma set up Pet Brands with his brother Sunny. His management and finance background proved to be useful as the company grew rapidly – establishing some great new brands and making innovative pet accessories for companies like Ocado, Tesco, Argos and Amazon.
The company now exports to 58 countries around the world and owns offices in India and China as well as a 42,000 square feet warehouse in Shanghai. In 2017 the company acquired another business in the same production vertical with the purchase of Vital Pet Products – the UK’s leading pet products wholesaler, serving over 4000 independent retailers.
Ravi also directs Bristows of Devon, a confectionary manufacturer, Q Retail Stores, a homeware mail order business and Sharma Investments, a national commercial investment company.
Sunny Sharma graduated with a degree in Business and Information Systems from Lancaster University in 2006 and immediately set up Dibor – a French home accessories mail order company. Within just three years he had also launched Pet Brands after spotting a gap in the market for high quality pet accessories in line with the latest trends and consumer purchasing habits. Within 10 years the company had offices in India and China and an expanding portfolio of own label brands, with over 600 ranges exported to retailers across 58 countries. In 2017 the group’s parent company purchased Vital Pet Products – the UK’s leading pet product wholesaler.
Sunny won the SME Company Director of the Year for the North East by the Institute of Directors. Simon Walton, Head Judge for the Director of the Year Awards 2018, said: “We felt that Sunny Sharma was the standout candidate due to the impressive growth of Pet Brands and the company’s international expansion.
Vital Pet Group is the leading wholesaler and distributor for pet within the UK. Paramount Retail Group acquired ‘Vital Pet Products’ in 2017. They later restructured the company in November 2018 and rebranded as Vital Pet Group.
Vital Pet Group specialises in distributing 28,000 products to the pet specialist retail sector. The acquisition allows customers to benefit from new and exciting opportunities driven by a management team with broad ranging experience within the sector and a proven track record of success for growth. With a national reach of depots, cross docks and offices throughout the UK, spanning from North Tawton in Devon to Glasgow in Scotland. The Company’s Head Office is located in Chapeltown, Sheffield. At VPG we pride ourselves on servicing our partners and their retail business every single day.
With the UK’s largest range of pet products in our warehouses, complimented by a dedicated next day delivery service using our own fleet. VPG is the partner of choice for thousands of retailers from independent pet shops, pet superstores, vets and e-retailers. Most of Paramount Retail’s group functions – such as finance and HR sit within Vital, which enables everyone to benefit from its expert resources.
The UK’s industry leader, designer and manufacturer of accessories and treats for pets and wild birds. Pet Brands provides retailers with pet industry insight, product innovation and quality, brand strength, retail understanding, category captainship. Our licensed brands make us a 1st choice partner, our product portfolio includes some of the world’s most recognisable brands, from Hello Kitty and Tatty Teddy to Alan Titchmarsh and RAC all of which are secured with exclusivity thanks to our growing reputation.
We have an expanding portfolio of own label brands with over 600+ ‘Must Have’ ranges providing a ‘one stop shop’ solution for our retail partners. Our favourite branded ranges include InterAct, Nooties, Chocoholic and New England to name a few.
Bespoke retail solutions allow retailers to be different and offer customers exclusivity Some of our customers require a more bespoke solution to satisfy market demand. Pet Brands provides an efficient reliable service for retail partners and delivers consistently on brief and on time.
With offices and showrooms in the UK, China and India we commit to provide a reliable efficient service, delivering to the UK or direct from China with excellent margins to our customers
Paramount Retail Group bought Bristows of Devon in 2017 and Crawford & Tilley in 2018, and we have brought the two together, to be known as the Great British Confectionery Group.
Bristows of Devon has a long history of making confectionery in the town of Crediton in Devon, with its origins extending as far back as 1870’s. Bristows operated under variety of incarnations before its assets were acquired by the Paramount Retail Group in 2017 and restored to operation as Bristows of Devon. Since that time, it has been under new management and now employs 30 people. As well as producing products under its Bristows, Tuckers and Pollards brands, the company makes own-label products for the retail and wholesale market in the UK and internationally. Through its export partners, Bristows of Devon has the capability to supply its products in 32 countries.
The company makes cut and wrap toffee and fudge, bonbons and boiled sweets. It is the only company in the world that produces a dual coloured bonbon and the only UK supplier of toffee centred bonbons. The site is nut free.
These two traditional sweet making companies came together some years ago. The two sites in Thrapston, near Kettering and Hadfield, near Glossop, make hard boiling and lollipops using recipes that have been handed down through the generations. Its confectionery is largely handmade and the methods have barely changed in the last 100 years. The companies produce a wide range of traditional British sweets such as chocolate limes, sherbet lemons, mint humbugs and pear drops for many leading retailers and the confectionery market both in the UK and worldwide. The sites are nut free.
The family history in the textile industry has given us an understanding of innovation and what makes a brand successful, and instilled an appreciation of craft and skill. Our underlying belief in British manufacturing meant that we recognised the value of the company and what it could offer. The range includes hard boiling and lollipops from Crawford & Tilley, as well as the Pollards brand and toffee, fudge, soft chews and bonbons from Bristows of Devon, including the Tuckers brand.
For any enquiries please contact sian@paramountretailgroup.co.uk or call 01204 377951