Fiddes Payne has restructured its business following the loss of a major long-term contract with the Jamie Oliver Group.
The Grocer first revealed in April that the Banbury-based business had lost the contract. Fiddes Payne handled the product development, sales and marketing for around 25 Jamie Oliver-branded products across a range of different categories. These included ready-to-eat grains and pulses, grind mills and curry pastes, which are primarily sold in the major grocers.
The Jamie Oliver tie-up was understood to have accounted for around half of Fiddes Payne’s sales, and its loss was expected to result in up to 20 redundancies from a total workforce of 51 staff.
However, The Grocer has learned only five redundancies were made and Norman Brodie, who had been CEO for eight years, has left the business.
Fiddes Payne’s largest shareholder Ben White has taken a more active role in the business alongside a new management team, and is set to appoint a new MD in the near future.
“This is a great opportunity for our streamlined business. With the right people in place, we will be able to take advantage of our smaller size and greater agility to meet our strategic growth targets. We are also actively exploring new ways to speed up our development programme,” said White.
“Everyone in our new management team is excited as we refocus our energies into developing a more agile, fast-paced organisation. We are looking forward to extending existing partnerships, breathing new life into retailer relationships, working with more brands and delivering exciting NPD.”
This month the company is launching a new range of ambient food products across Albert Heijn stores in the Netherlands, under its own Full of Goodness branding.
It also continues to be a licensed manufacturer for the BBC, Disney and Bosh brands. It also continues to handle the Cake Angels brand and other private labels across the EU.
Further NPD is expected over the next six months.
The 12-year relationship with the Jamie Oliver Group will officially conclude at the end of August. It follows a complete review of business strategy by the group last year. It has yet to confirm details of who is set to pick up its contracts going forward.
No comments yet