Cranberry Foods’ bosses are preoccupied with Christmas, but how will the new men at the top of the UK’s second biggest turkey producer reshape it to survive today’s market? Ed Bedington reports
Christmas is coming and Cranberry Foods is hoping to grow fat on the proceeds. Rising from the ashes of Brandons, the UK’s second largest turkey supplier, entrepreneurs Andrew Lewins and David Horn know they must convert a struggling operation into a viable proposition. But before they can even start to think about getting to grips with reshaping the business, they have the busy Christmas period to contend with.
“At the moment, we’re focusing on ensuring we deliver the best possible Christmas to our customers,” says Lewins. Horn adds: “We always said the first 100 days would be getting to know and understand the business and managing a successful Christmas. The next 100 days will be spent pushing through the changes needed to deliver the business back.”
Both are confident they have bought a viable business: Brandons was the second largest UK turkey operation before it went into receivership in April.
Lewins says a combination of issues led to the family-owned company’s downfall. These ranged from tough trading conditions and cheap imports through to too rapid a growth through acquisitions - in effect the company bit off more than it could chew.
The two men, who between them have more than 35 years poultry industry experience, were working for Grampian and saw Brandons as a great opportunity. Horn says: “It was a once in a lifetime chance and a real challenge for us.”
Their partnership has the majority shareholding in Cranberry while Grampian and the Bank of Scotland retain minority shareholdings.
The reborn company, which has an annual turnover of £90m, has two main processing sites, one in Holly Bank, Derbyshire, and the other in Abergavenny, Wales. In addition it has two hatcheries and more than 70 farmers, in all employing 1,100.
Horn says that all the employees have supported the change of ownership and the open-door policy with them will be maintained. “You can never over-communicate with your staff,” he says.
An additional site at Dalton was closed when the company was in receivership, a move that, so far, has spared the new bosses the unpleasant business of closing plants. “The business is better balanced with only the two sites so, hopefully, we won’t have to close any,” says Horn.
Survival depends on expanding British turkey outside the festive period. “Christmas will always be a major period of demand for fresh turkey, but in order for us to be able to supply fresh British product we have to persuade retailers and the consumers that there’s a whole model to support the rest of the year,” Lewins says. “We can’t have empty sheds five months of the year and then swing into action at Christmas, it has to be a 52-week solution.”
The collapse of one of only two major players in the turkey sector - Bernard Matthews is the other - acted as a wake-up call to everybody, says Lewins. And Cranberry Foods knows that to stay in business it must innovate. “We can’t go head-to-head with the Brazilians on price, but there are areas we can get into, for example on the deli counter and in cooked and sliced meats,”Lewins says.
Already the company is investing £500,000 in extending the facilities at Abergavenny to help deliver new products, as well as centrally packed meat for Asda. A further half a million pounds will be spent on improving environmental controls at its farm operations while a range of Cranberry Foods-branded, added-value products will hit shelves in the new year.
Lewins says the company is also working hard to communicate its brand and values, internally and externally.
Both men believe their experience with poultry can only help them in achieving their objectives for Cranberry Foods. But Lewins recalls one important piece of advice his new employees gave him about turkeys. “They said, ‘whatever you do, don’t think of them as big chickens’.”
Christmas is coming and Cranberry Foods is hoping to grow fat on the proceeds. Rising from the ashes of Brandons, the UK’s second largest turkey supplier, entrepreneurs Andrew Lewins and David Horn know they must convert a struggling operation into a viable proposition. But before they can even start to think about getting to grips with reshaping the business, they have the busy Christmas period to contend with.
“At the moment, we’re focusing on ensuring we deliver the best possible Christmas to our customers,” says Lewins. Horn adds: “We always said the first 100 days would be getting to know and understand the business and managing a successful Christmas. The next 100 days will be spent pushing through the changes needed to deliver the business back.”
Both are confident they have bought a viable business: Brandons was the second largest UK turkey operation before it went into receivership in April.
Lewins says a combination of issues led to the family-owned company’s downfall. These ranged from tough trading conditions and cheap imports through to too rapid a growth through acquisitions - in effect the company bit off more than it could chew.
The two men, who between them have more than 35 years poultry industry experience, were working for Grampian and saw Brandons as a great opportunity. Horn says: “It was a once in a lifetime chance and a real challenge for us.”
Their partnership has the majority shareholding in Cranberry while Grampian and the Bank of Scotland retain minority shareholdings.
The reborn company, which has an annual turnover of £90m, has two main processing sites, one in Holly Bank, Derbyshire, and the other in Abergavenny, Wales. In addition it has two hatcheries and more than 70 farmers, in all employing 1,100.
Horn says that all the employees have supported the change of ownership and the open-door policy with them will be maintained. “You can never over-communicate with your staff,” he says.
An additional site at Dalton was closed when the company was in receivership, a move that, so far, has spared the new bosses the unpleasant business of closing plants. “The business is better balanced with only the two sites so, hopefully, we won’t have to close any,” says Horn.
Survival depends on expanding British turkey outside the festive period. “Christmas will always be a major period of demand for fresh turkey, but in order for us to be able to supply fresh British product we have to persuade retailers and the consumers that there’s a whole model to support the rest of the year,” Lewins says. “We can’t have empty sheds five months of the year and then swing into action at Christmas, it has to be a 52-week solution.”
The collapse of one of only two major players in the turkey sector - Bernard Matthews is the other - acted as a wake-up call to everybody, says Lewins. And Cranberry Foods knows that to stay in business it must innovate. “We can’t go head-to-head with the Brazilians on price, but there are areas we can get into, for example on the deli counter and in cooked and sliced meats,”Lewins says.
Already the company is investing £500,000 in extending the facilities at Abergavenny to help deliver new products, as well as centrally packed meat for Asda. A further half a million pounds will be spent on improving environmental controls at its farm operations while a range of Cranberry Foods-branded, added-value products will hit shelves in the new year.
Lewins says the company is also working hard to communicate its brand and values, internally and externally.
Both men believe their experience with poultry can only help them in achieving their objectives for Cranberry Foods. But Lewins recalls one important piece of advice his new employees gave him about turkeys. “They said, ‘whatever you do, don’t think of them as big chickens’.”
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