Help offered after 600 jobs lost at Kanes Foods

A food company has offered support to staff at a nearby business that has gone into administration.

Kanes Foods Limited, which supplies major UK supermarkets with pre-packaged salads, stir-fry products and sauces, collapsed on Tuesday with the loss of 600 jobs.

Administrators PwC said the company in Evesham had faced "significant financial and operational challenges" over the last few years.

Primafruit, which is based at Vale Business Park, said it would host a drop-in morning on Friday "for anyone affected who may be looking for work".

Posting on Facebook, it said: "As a fellow local business, we know how important employment is to individuals, families and our wider community, and we would like to offer some practical support where we can."

Kanes Foods experienced "significant disruption" in June last year when the failure of its wastewater treatment plant resulted in "one-off costs" of about £2m and a lasting increase in running costs, said PwC.

It added that "drought-related supply issues" had affected trading this summer.

Nigel Huddleston, Conservative MP for Droitwich and Evesham, told BBC Hereford and Worcester on Wednesday that it was a sector often impacted by factors outside of its control.

"This is a sector where they're operating on wafer-thin margins, dealing with supermarkets who of course want to keep prices as low as possible for their consumers.

"Things like weather really impact businesses like this. When [it's] the summer where it's really hot, costs go up for fruit and vegetables."

He also thanked businesses who had reached out to people who had lost their jobs "saying 'we've got jobs available'".

Primafruit said its drop-in session would run from 09:00 GMT and there was no need to book.

People should come whether they are ready to talk about work straight away or want to understand what "opportunities might be available," it added.

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