Suma is the trading name of the Triangle Wholefoods Collective Limited, a
worker co-operative wholefoods wholesaler. It was founded in
Leeds
Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
in 1977 and is now based in
Elland,
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...
. It is the largest independent wholefood
wholesale
Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In ...
r in the United Kingdom
[Museum Links with Food Firm by Henryk Zientek, Mar 13 2008, Huddersfield Daily Examiner](_blank)
/ref> as well as the country's largest common ownership
Common ownership refers to holding the assets of an organization, enterprise, or community indivisibly rather than in the names of the individual members or groups of members as common property. Forms of common ownership exist in every economi ...
co-operative. The co-operative specializes in vegetarian
Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the Eating, consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects as food, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slau ...
, fairly traded, organic, ethical, ecological and natural products.
Its turnover for the year ending 2019 was reported as £54 million, ranking it 49th among British co-operatives.
History
Suma was started in 1975 by Reg Tayler, who had worked with wholefoods in London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. In Leeds
Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
, he opened a retail shop. In August 1975, at a meeting with all the wholefood shops in the north of England, he proposed they set up wholefoods wholesaling co-operative in order to supply each other.
See also
* Greencity Wholefoods
References
External links
{{Portal, Organized labour
Official websiteSuma's Current Home (Google Maps)
Co-operatives in the United Kingdom
Companies based in Elland
Wholesalers of the United Kingdom
Worker co-operatives of the United Kingdom