With stockists in England, Wales and Scotland, FieldFare offers consumers single portioned, frozen food to be selected and bagged-up like pick n’ mix. The range includes vegetables, mini meals, fruit, snacks and desserts.
Matt Whelan, who took over as managing director in 2020, didn’t start in food. Gis first job was actually working for Wonderbra in sales. Whilst there he realised that he wanted a career he could personally relate to - and that something was food.
I need to personally understand the products I work on. So thought to myself - I need to be in food, I love food.
Matt Whelan, MD, FieldFare
Whelan’s career is varied, having had roles at Nestlé, Young’s Seafood, Whitby Seafood, and Roberts Bakery.
His passion lies in championing frozen food which has suffered misconceptions of being lower in quality and is often harder to market in store due to the nature of freezers (e.g. no visual appeal if stock is stacked haphazardly and frosted glass).
“I’m a huge champion of frozen - and I think it was the celebrity chef movement that pushed us into fresh; and then the supermarkets responded by the growing the chilled aisles. Everything was about ‘fresh’, even if, in actual fact, the best option might have been frozen.”
But Whelan isn’t a stranger to hard work and has been busy helping FieldFare to challenge perceptions around frozen, making it stand-out with visually-striking freezers.
