A food factory in Forres producing dried meat snacks is set to close at the end of April, it has been confirmed.
Forres New World Foods, on the Greshop Industrial Estate, is part of Valeo Foods UK who have multiple sites across the UK and produce a range of sweet and savoury products, including jerky and biltong.
Following an anonymous tip-off, we contacted the company, who confirmed a closing date of 30 April has been proposed, when production will be moved to other sites in the group.
Valeo recently conducted a comprehensive strategic review of its business in the UK, with a view to optimising the manufacturing footprint and category proposition and to be more cost-efficient with the aim to position the business for future growth and success.
Meat snacks
The site was originally home to a company called Meat Snacks which then became New World Foods which was acquired by Valeo Foods UK.
The UK meat snacks business currently operates three manufacturing facilities located in York, Wigan and Forres. The Forres factory employs 36 people.
A spokesperson for the company said: “Forres presents significant logistical challenges due to its remote location. These challenges have made it increasingly difficult to maintain cost efficiencies, which are crucial in today’s competitive market.
“The York site has the immediate capacity to handle current production volumes, and it is well-positioned to support both our short- and medium-term growth objectives.
“The strategic review considered many different options from a capacity, cost and cash perspective. We assessed the capacity and demand for different products; the projected investment required across all sites, along with identifying operational improvement opportunities.
“As a result, the proposal was to cease operations at our meat snacks production facility in Forres, and transfer production to sister Valeo sites within the Meat Snacks Division
“We conducted a collective consultation with all employees at the Forres site and no alternative solutions were found to mitigate this proposal.”
CEO of Valeo Foods UK, Kevin Moore, added: “This closure is in no way a reflection on the dedicated efforts of the Forres team who have shown great commitment to improve the performance of the site in recent years”.
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