Catering firm Apetito buys pre-cooked meal business
WFF parent company Apetito – which won the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in innovation on April 21 – bought the east central Scotland-based franchise from business founder the Lamont family.
Former WFF Crieff owner and md Douglas Lamont said: “We have thoroughly enjoyed being a part of its growth story and success over the last 23 years here in Crieff.”
WFF Crieff was founded in 1992 and delivered more than 1M meals a year and was described as a“multi-million pound turnover operation”.
Spokesman for Apetito Kevin Rosevere said: “We are delighted to have acquired WFF Crieff and wish the Lamont family a long and enjoyable retirement.”
Turnover of £630M
Apetito operates its franchise business through WFF in the UK and is a subsidiary of Germany-based Apetito group. The group has operations in the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Canada and has a turnover of £630M a year.
The firm manufactures and supplies pre-made meals to care homes, local authorities and hospitals. IT supplies pre-made meals to individual consumers through WFF.
WFF operateS a franchise model and haS more than 70 franchisees in the UK.
The sale of WFF Crieff was one of many acquisitions made by food manufacturers and suppliers in the past month.
100 years of family ownership
Logistics firm RG Bassett & Sons has been acquired food logistics group S J Bargh for an undisclosed sum on June 15. The sale saw the end of more than 100 years of family ownership of the company.
The world’s biggest brewer, Budweiser beer owner AB InBev acquired the world’s second largest brewer, SABMiller on June 1 to create a global market leader.
Meanwhile, Tyrrells Crisps has bought German organic crisp maker Aroma Snacks for an undisclosed amount – the company’s first European acquisition – on May 16.
