Mariani Foods snatches Bare Earth from administration

Mariani Foods said in a statement that its European subsidiary, Mariani Foods Europe, combined with Bare Earth, would be renamed New World Foods (Europe) in the wake of the deal.

It stated that New World Foods (Europe) would be managed completely independently in order to serve the UK and European markets effectively and that the changes formed part of Mariani Foods’ 2014 growth strategy.

Bare Earth, which makes dried meat products such as beef jerky and biltong, had grown into a £1.1M business over the past 10 years. But it ran into trouble earlier this year when it lost two of its major retail customers, carving its sales in half.

Bitter blow​

Coming shortly after the business invested in new premises in York, this was a bitter blow from which it seemed it would not recover, according to business turnaround and insolvency firm P&A Partnership.

However, P&A Partnership said immediately after it appointed Gareth Rusling and Chris White as joint administrators of Bare Earth on February 18, they sold it to Mariani Foods, saving it.

“Bare Earth’s products are a familiar brand in the UK and are recognised for producing a quality, healthy alternative meat snack,”​ said Rusling. “This deal will enable the brand to grow again and, most importantly, everyone in the business has been able to keep their job.”​

Don Nisbet, group md of Mariani Foods, said: “This is an exciting time for New World Foods. We have successfully acquired the assets from Bare Earth that will allow us to offer British made biltong and jerky, something that means a lot to the consumers we’ve spoken to over the years.”​

Bare Earth was set up in Ripon in 2003, before moving to its current premises in York last year.

Premium beef jerky​

Mariani Foods, which is based in New South Wales, Australia, claims to have produced premium beef jerky for the past 30 years.

The company launched into the UK market in April 2012 and supplies customers including Tesco, Costco and Selfridges with products such as Mariani Soft Beef Jerky. Mariani Foods also exports to areas such as the US, Japan and the Middle East.