The business, which prides itself on the ‘poshness’ of its handmade dishes for two, has more than 200 employees at its West London kitchens. It expected sales to have grown by 20% to nearly £24M for the year just ended.
Charlie Bigham’s meals are available in Waitrose, Ocado, Sainsbury and Booths.
Leighton will work with founder Charlie Bigham to deliver an ambitious growth objective of £100M sales.
Leighton is currently chairman of Pandora, Pace, and Office. He has also been on the board of Dyson and Lastminute.com.
Big Fan
He said: “I’m a big fan of Charlie and what he’s doing for the quality of ready meals. He’s tapped into the key insight that although people lead such hectic lives, they still want to make time to share a delicious meal at home together.
“To me he’s a bit like the James Dyson of food in the way he’s unearthed this opportunity. I’m looking forward to working with him and his team.”
Charlie Bigham added: “We’re delighted and excited that someone of the calibre of Allan has joined us. His expertise and experience is obviously going to help us enormously.”