Administrators Interpath have been appointed to Foodstore Ltd, trading as King Foods, after directors made the call to cease operations in mid-February.
With no viable prospect for the resumption of trading, Interpath has opted to make the firm’s 41 staff redundant – but has pledged as-of-yet unspecified support measures.
Operating primarily across the north-east of Scotland, Stirling and Edinburgh, King Foods supplied frozen foods, fresh fish products, dry goods, and fresh and frozen meat to hotel and retail catering businesses.
The foods business faced a series of challenges over a number of years, with increased competition and rising inflation combining with a more general downturn in the hospitality and catering sectors to create a perfect storm.
Having failed to find a solution to these broad economic headwinds, directors eventually made the call to file for administration last month.
“Significant headwinds continue to impact companies operating up and down the food and drink supply chain, including rising costs which place pressure on margins,” said Geoff Jacobs, managing director at Interpath and joint administrator.
“This is resulting in many business owners seeking support and assessing options which we would encourage them to do proactively.”
Interpath has now been tasked with marketing King Foods’ business and assets, which include its fitted cold storage facility in Aberdeen, its vehicle fleet, and other properties.
This latest collapse will no doubt prove very worrisome for the Scottish food and drink sector, which has recently seen the demise of two of its flagship brewers – BrewDog and Innis & Gunn, resulting in a combined loss of almost 600 jobs.
Alistair McAlinden, head of Interpath in Scotland and joint administrator, added: “As a priority, we will be extending support to King Foods’ employees who have sadly been impacted by redundancy.”
