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Discover how just a handful of uk food conglomerates control the UK food market, and why choosing local producers through GBFM makes all the difference.
Walk into any UK supermarket and you’ll be greeted with aisles stacked high with colourful packaging, quirky logos, and products that all seem to be competing for your attention. From biscuits and breakfast cereals to sauces and soups, the sheer variety looks overwhelming. But here’s the twist: most of those “different” options belong to the same handful of giant companies.
It’s a clever trick – we feel like we have endless choice, but behind the scenes, conglomerates quietly own dozens (sometimes hundreds) of brands. Take a closer look at your shopping basket, and you’ll see familiar names like Mr Kipling, KitKat, Walkers, and Oxo. On the surface, they’re worlds apart. In reality, they’re controlled by just a few parent companies.
This is the hidden story of the UK food market: the one that most of us never notice. And it matters more than you think.
When it comes to the UK food market, the same names crop up again and again once you scratch beneath the surface. A handful of multinational giants dominate the shelves, each with sprawling portfolios that stretch across categories from breakfast to bedtime.
Here are some of the biggest players:
Between them, these seven groups control the lion’s share of what we see in supermarkets. They don’t just dominate the brands we reach for daily; they shape our diets, our culture, and even the prices we pay, all without us realising.
The UK food and grocery market is worth around £195 billion a year. Roughly half of that goes on supermarket own-label products, while the other half, about £92 billion, is spent on branded goods. That branded slice is where the big conglomerates dominate.
But what does £92 billion actually mean? It’s a number so big that it’s hard to picture. One way to understand it is by comparing it to government budgets we all know:
The entire UK Defence budget is about £54 billion.
Policing across England and Wales costs around £19 billion.
Spending on Housing and the Environment (DEFRA) together adds another £18 billion or so.
Add those up: Defence + Police + Housing + Environment, and you get around £91 billion. That’s almost exactly the same size as the money we hand over to branded food companies every single year.
So, while the supermarket shelves might make it feel like you’re just picking up a few everyday groceries, the reality is that the branded food market is vast, on par with some of the biggest public services we rely on to run the country AND keep it safe.
Please note: These figures are best estimates. Companies don’t always report UK revenues separately, and values shift year to year. But the overall scale is clear: the branded food market is just enormous.
To really see how concentrated the market is, it helps to group the brands by the foods we buy most often. Here’s a snapshot of how those “different” products line up under the same umbrellas:
The result? What looks like a diverse, competitive marketplace is actually a spider’s web where different categories all tie back to the same few companies.
At first glance, you might think it doesn’t matter who owns your biscuits or cereal, after all, a chocolate bar is a chocolate bar, right? But when only a few conglomerates control the market, there are real consequences for shoppers, producers, and communities.
While the big conglomerates thrive, the picture looks very different for small, independent food producers. Getting their products onto supermarket shelves is notoriously difficult, and even when they manage it, the odds are stacked against them.
This is why so many passionate growers, bakers, brewers and artisans struggle to scale, not because their food isn’t good enough, but because the system is stacked against them.
Food is never just about calories, it’s about who we are. Every region in the UK has its own culinary traditions, whether it’s Cornish pasties, Yorkshire puddings, or Scottish tablet. These foods connect us to our history, our families, and our communities.
But when a handful of global conglomerates dominate the food market, that cultural richness gets diluted. Instead of regional flavours and locally rooted products, we’re offered mass-produced, standardised versions designed to sell everywhere and please everyone, but lacking the soul of the original.
Independent producers often act as guardians of tradition. They’re the ones still making chutney to a century-old recipe, or baking bread using flour from a local mill. When they thrive, local culture thrives with them. When they disappear, our food culture risks becoming as homogenised as the supermarket shelves.
Choosing to buy from small, local makers isn’t just about taste or ethics, it’s about preserving the unique character of our communities for generations to come.
The dominance of big conglomerates doesn’t just affect culture and community, it also has a huge environmental footprint.
In short: the way big brands operate is designed for global consistency, not local sustainability.
When big conglomerates dominate the UK food market, the effects go far beyond what ends up in your basket, they reshape the economy itself.
The end result? While conglomerates thrive, many UK communities are left poorer, less resilient, and more dependent than ever.
For decades, big conglomerates have built trust through advertising. We grow up seeing the same brands in our cupboards, on TV, and in glossy supermarket displays, so we assume they’re reliable, even “British.” But when you look closer, the story is often very different.
The truth is, many of the “heritage” brands we think of as local are now global assets, traded on stock markets and managed with profit in mind. What feels familiar and trustworthy is often just clever branding.
Meanwhile, small local producers, the ones genuinely rooted in place and tradition, rarely have the budget to compete for that same level of consumer trust, despite being more authentic than any multinational label.
The concentration of power in the hands of a few conglomerates isn’t just a quirky fact about the food industry, it affects what we eat, how much we pay, and the future of our communities.
This isn’t about boycotting every big brand, that’s unrealistic. It’s about awareness, and about making conscious choices when alternatives exist. Every pound spent with a local producer is a vote for diversity, sustainability, and fairness.
That’s why spaces like the Great British Farmers Market matter. We exist to give you a genuine alternative: food and products made here in the UK, by people you can know and trust. When you shop with us, you’re not just buying dinner, you’re helping to build a better food system, one that works for people, not just profits.
Next time you walk down a supermarket aisle, take a second look at the labels. Ask yourself: who really owns this brand? You might be surprised at how many “different” choices all lead back to the same handful of conglomerates.
But here’s the good news: you don’t have to play along with their game. By choosing to shop with local producers, you can step outside that web of hidden ownership. You’ll know exactly where your food comes from, who made it, and what your money is supporting.
That’s what we’re building at the Great British Farmers Market, a fairer, more transparent alternative where every purchase makes a difference. One that backs the makers, bakers, growers and creators of Britain instead of corporate shareholders.
So next time you’re stocking your cupboard, skip the illusion of choice. Support the real people behind the food.
👉 Shop local. Support small. Choose better.
