Despite his firm's successful push to boost foodservice sales over the past year, Lees Foods ceo Clive Miquel believes the retail sector is where the “real growth lies” , as the company looks to extend its brands into complementary product areas.
Wirral Borough Council says it ''left no stone unturned'' in trying to persuade Burton’s Foods not to close its Moreton biscuit factory, and even offered the company a £450,000 grant as a sweetener.
Greencore cfo Alan Williams has told FoodManufacture.co.uk that he can "categorically confirm the business is not for sale", following a news report that said the €850m turnover convenience foods group had held talks with private equity firms...
Jam producer Wilkin & Sons says its main focus during 2011 is to find new premises, which could possibly involve moving from its iconic site in the village of Tipree, Essex.
Northern Foods is proposing to close it Leeds office and move the majority of staff to its ‘shared service centre’ in Wakefield, FoodManufacture.co.uk has learnt, as owner Ranjit Boparan starts restructuring his new acquisition.
Confectionery and snacks group Zetar has described the last year as a ''difficult period'' for its snacks division, as sales flatlined and commodity costs rose.
Premier Foods is hosting an investor day today (Friday) with the aim of convincing sceptical analysts and investors that its business strategy is sound.
Major brand owners such as Coca-Cola, Mars and Unilever are increasing their marketing spend on social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to interact directly with consumers using smartphones, while small firms are also upping their...
Nestlé UK may keep its headquarters in Croydon, despite reissuing a warning that it is "reviewing other options" outside the London borough in a bid to escape its dilapidated site by 2014.
PepsiCo UK is pumping £8.5m into its Quaker Oats site in Fife to meet increasing demand for hot cereals, which have grown 13% in the year to March 19 2011, according to Nielsen.
Peanut butter is now Britain’s fastest growing sweet spread with sales up by over 40% from 2008 to £40m in 2010, according to market intelligence firm Mintel.
Analysts have questioned chief executive Robert Schofield’s continued presence at Premier Foods, as the company reported a 3.1% decline in first quarter sales today.
Limited supermarket shelf space and own label competition are reasons why food firms are growing online sales, both directly and through third-party sites, says food and grocery analyst IGD.
Foodservice giant Brakes has apologised to customers following a massive IT breakdown last week, which meant staff in warehouses could not pick food and send out orders.
Amazon.co.uk’s grocery launch last July ruffled feathers amongst some suppliers, who complained at the time about low volume sales, the fulfillment model, consumer confusion and limited marketing. So what’s the consensus nine months on?
Industry assertions that the sources of mineral oils in recycled board are known and can be relatively easily avoided have been questioned by one well-informed industry source.
A supply chain expert says he fears that poor attendance by UK food producers at a major Paris trade show for own-label foods shows that firms are sitting back and letting European suppliers grow their market share.
Kellogg's UK md Greg Paterson has stepped down, with the food manufacturer appointing a temporary successor until it finds a suitable long-term replacement.
Safety expert Arco is now extending into safety management services with the acquisition of ARC Associates UK – one of the UK’s most experienced safety, health and environmental consultancy and training organisations.
Environment minister for Wales, Jane Davidson opened consultation on the ‘Food Manufacture, Service and Retail Sector plan’ for waste last month. She did so during a visit to Wales’s first commercial-scale anaerobic digestion (AD) plant at Premier Foods’s...
Geneva has a rich history. The earliest stages of St Peter's Cathedral there date back to 1160. A famous hotbed for Protestant revolutionary zeal in the 16th18th Century and home to church reformer Calvin, the European headquarters of the UN is also...
January marked the end of the two-year transition period for flavouring regulation EC 1334/2008, which means firms are expected to have completed any changes necessary to comply with the new law.
As an industry we spend a great deal of time and money developing ‘healthy’ food solutions and menus for schools and support the ‘food’ education of children in school. However, once a child leaves the school gate there is very little support and, in...
Mexican is becoming a favourite ethnic cuisine in the UK, according to Sweden-based manufacturing group, Santa Maria, which is gearing up to cash in on the trend.
Managers at Northumbrian Fine Foods have bought the company off private equity owners and plan to invest in the business in a bid to push turnover above £12m in 2011.
Unilever says it is spending around £2.6m to upgrade production and expand production at its historic Colman’s mustard factory in Norwich, but admits that it could shed up to 20 jobs as a result.
Some parts of the canned foods industry are doomed, according to a new report from analysts at research firm Key Note, which predicts that total UK volume sales will continue to fall, despite a predicted rise in sales value.
Ranjit Boparan is one step closer to taking over Northern Foods after announcing yesterday that he now controls over 70% of the convenience food group’s shares, although one analyst said the industrial logic of a tie-up with Greencore would have been...
A producer of honey with added bee venom has described the Food Standards Agency (FSA’s) rejection of UK - and by extension EU - licensing for his product under the novel foods regulation as “hard to rationalise”.
Greencore said this morning that it does not intend to make a revised offer for Northern Foods to rival Ranjit Boparan’s 73p/share offer, which means the Midlands businessman is one step closer to tying the knot with Northern shareholders by March 16th.
Premier Foods plans to close its distribution centre in Chandler’s Ford, Hampshire as it rationalises its south coast operations, while the firm has also rebuffed rumours of a management change.
Kettle Chips will shortly begin work on a £6.8m investment in extra production facilities at its Norwich base, in a move that could create up to 35 new jobs.
The owner of a Grantham-based startup that claimed a Guinness World Record for the world’s hottest chilli in March 2010 is calling for investment in his business.
The battle between food titans Greencore and Ranjit Boparan to take over Northern Foods could still go right to the wire, despite the expiry today of a deadline set by the latter for Northern's shareholders to formally accept his bid.
The concept of late customisation looks to be expanding out of the confines of research departments and into mainstream manufacturing operations. It’s a way of cost-effectively making a variety of products that use a common ingredient by adding flavour...
Chilli Jam Man has boosted sales by including specific nutritional breakdowns on all its labels with the help of advice from food group Deliciously Yorkshire.
Goldenfry Foods has a won a legal judgement against three former employees who misused trade secrets to establish a breakaway company and appropriate a £5m supermarket contract for gravy granules.
Associated British Foods (ABF) has issued what stockbroker Shore Capital describes as a “rather subdued” trading update, following a disastrous UK beet sugar harvest
Dry blended foods producer the Hügli Group has invested around £2m to double the size of its UK production facility and process more savoury products such as soups and sauces.
Solid branded and own-label growth in 2010 consumer food sales saw Kerry Foods see off rising ingredient costs, cautious shoppers and a tough promotional climate.
Greencore is under pressure to table a viable counter-bid by March 2 to beat Ranjit Boparan in the struggle to takeover Northern Foods, but still has advantages on its side if it does do so, says one City analyst.
Premier Foods has sold its canned grocery operations to Princes for £182m, including such iconic brands as Crosse & Blackwell, Fray Bentos and Smedley’s.
