Kerry Group has begun consultation on the future of its frozen ready-meals facility in the UK town of Grimsby.
The Irish food giant told just-food today (6 February) that it has entered talks on the future of the factory amid increased competition and declining sales in the frozen ready-meals market.
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Kerry acquired the site last year when it bought UK rival Headland Foods. The company has already closed a second factory, in the Welsh town of Flint, that it acquired through the Headland deal.
A Kerry spokesperson said the company it has informed employees of the review of its frozen ready meals business, which is as a result of “lower factory throughput”. Some 337 jobs are under threat if the plant closes.
“While we have made significant reductions to our costs base and have sought to win new business, to date we have found that none of the measures have been able to restore profitability at the Grimsby site,” the spokesperson said. “If the conclusion is to terminate production of frozen meals in Grimsby, then we will of course look at other potential projects for this site.”
Production at the site could transfer to Kerry’s Carrick Macross facility in Ireland, he added, which “has capacity to produce the output from Grimsby, is a much larger facility and is very efficient”.
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