Surrey firm hit by falling poultry sales

Catering butcher W&W Foods has closed its West Molesey depot in Surrey - the latest victim of plummeting poultry sales due to Avian Flu fears and a shortage of red meat supplies from Argentina and Brazil.

WW North (formerly Gordon North) in Warwick bought the firm's white and red meat processing operation while the prepared foods business of Trust Quality Foods - suppliers to the airline industry and previously sold through W&W Foods - is now being sold directly by Trust Quality Foods.

John Alexander, partner at administrator Carter Backer Winter, said W&W Foods had a sound business which suffered from the well known problems affecting all foods operators. Said Mr Alexander: "By closing down in the South and moving its operation in with WW North it will be able to continue servicing its customers, although at the obviously regrettable loss of 35 jobs in West Molesey."

WW North director John Smithurst added that it had ensured continuity of supply throughout the process. "A number of new contracts are under discussion and depending on how successful we are with these, it may mean we have to buy another depot but at the moment we are just dealing with the current workload."

G. White & Co, Trust Quality Foods and W&W Foods merged in late 2004 to create one large, food supplier for the catering industry. It recently launched the Graham White & Co brand of sausages, Porky Whites.

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---