More job losses at Paramount Foods as administrators search for buyer

A further 41 people will be made redundant at Paramount Foods as administrators continue to look for a buyer for the chilled and frozen pizza maker.

The company was forced into administration earlier this month when Morrisons switched a major own label pizza contract from Paramount to Stateside Foods, with initial job losses of 118 split between its sites in Salford and Deeside.

There will also be 14 salaried redundancies split between both sites, taking the total jobs toll to 173.

Paramount still supplies Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco, but administrators Duff and Phelps said the current workforce numbers were unsustainable.

“Whilst customers continue to be supportive of the business, inevitably order volumes have fallen and the company’s declining turnover cannot sustain its existing level of overheads,” said Duff and Phelps’ David Whitehouse.

Paramount was sold by meat processing giant Vion to Arena Ventures in July. Arena is run by former Irish Dairy Board CEO and Adams Foods MD Noel Coakley.

Last week, The Grocer revealed that many suppliers to Paramount were angry that Vion had not informed them of the sale and only found out when the administration was announced.