HR boss Graham Trevor told FoodManufacture.co.uk: “We have commenced consultation with the employees at Churchill. We have undertaken our initial strategic review, and at this stage our proposal is to move the production from Nottingham to Luton.”
He added: “We are currently putting together a proposed transfer plan to discuss with the employee representatives. There are 90 staff at Churchill. We have vacancies at Luton and will be actively encouraging as many people as possible to move to Luton if they are able to do so.”
Hain recently switched production from its Daily Bread sandwich plant in London to Luton in a bid to secure the future of the site, which was thrown into question last year following the loss of an M&S contract that accounted for 90% of its output.
Production has since been transferred to rivals, although Hain carried on supplying ham, cheese and pickle products to M&S from Luton until April this year.
The Churchill acquisition would complement Hain’s Daily Bread branded sandwich and snack range, which is supplied to several companies, museums, sporting and educational establishments, Hain Celestial chief executive Irwin D. Simon said earlier this month: “Our combined technical and innovation teams will bring us the capability of developing more exciting and healthy food-to-go products."