Young’s Seafood to keep Cromer Crab in Cromer
After a stakeholder meeting today (October 31) to discuss the future of the site, the firm has accepted a petition from the 'Keep it Cromer' Campaign and announced that the much-loved brand will be staying put.
Pete Ward, chief operating officer at Young's Seafood, said: “We welcome the interest in Cromer Crab as it highlights how much of a high quality, iconic shellfish it is and its importance to the local community. The consultation is underway and we are continuing to explore all options and alternatives raised.
“Working closely with a number of stakeholders, we are now looking at ways to keep Cromer crab branded items in Cromer and we will not move these lines to either Grimsby or Scotland.”
Manufacturing operations
Last month, following a review of its manufacturing operations, Young’s entered into a 90-day consultation with workers to discuss new proposals that would see some of the firm’s processing moving from Cromer to larger-scale sites in Scotland and Grimsby.
The plan was met with fierce opposition from protesters who do not want to see the Cromer Crab brand moved from Cromer. The protests gained national momentum last week when stars such as Stephen Fry and Alan Titchmarsh backed the campaign.
The staunch opposition to the relocation now appears to have been successful with Young’s confirming that it is “open to ideas” and currently “exploring options” to ensure that crab from Cromer continues to be processed in the area.
Leendert den Hollander, chief executive of Young’s Seafood, said: “Our employees here in Cromer are continuing to carry on with business as normal, through the consultation, which is a huge credit to the entire workforce. As we move forward, we will continue to keep all the key stakeholders informed on progress and any significant developments.”
Last week, Young’s defended the potential move, highlighting that the crab and lobster sourced from the local area currently accounts for about 2% of turnover at the site. This equates to £1M of the £65M that the factory generates each year.
Aggressive competition
Ward told FoodManufacture.co.uk that due to the current economic climate, the site had been struggling with inflation, industry over-capacity, new and aggressive competition coming into shellfish processing and pressure on margins from promotions and consumers seeking better value.
He said: “We have worked hard in Cromer, over a considerable amount of time to try to drive sales, reduce costs and ensure this is a viable site but, unfortunately, the challenges are increasing. The commitment, expertise and dedication of the team in Cromer have always been fantastic and have never been in question.
“These proposals are about us having to adapt to the new reality in our external environment to ensure that Young's has a long term, successful future."
