Ready Meals

My protein has signed a five year deal with Iceland Foods to develop a new ready meals range

Myprotein signs five-year Iceland deal

By Gwen Ridler

Sports nutrition brand Myprotein has signed a five-year deal with Iceland Foods to launch its range of frozen ready meals into supermarket stores across the UK and overseas.

Charlie Bigham's took home Food Manufacture Manufacturing Company of the Years at the 2022 FMEAs

Double award win for Charlie Bigham’s

By Gwen Ridler

The Food Manufacture Excellence Awards help highlight the achievements of the food and drink industry and ‘acknowledge and reward’ the hard work companies do to keep the nation fed, according to Charlie Bigham’s general manager Richard Bain.

Last week's warm weather pushed up sales of hand-held ices at Waitrose

Waitrose boasts ready meals growth

By Rod Addy

Ready meals and food-to-go sales soared at Waitrose last week, with Bigham’s and Waitrose own-label Traditional British lines achieving strong sales growth.

Dennis: Automation is not a path we would choose to go down

Ready meals firm Cook creates 100 jobs

By Nicholas Robinson

Premium ready meals firm Cook will create more than 100 jobs after investing £2M in the company’s two manufacturing facilities, its operations director has revealed.

Home-cooked meals are not always the healthiest - new research

Home-cooked not always best

By Nicholas Robinson

Home-cooked meals may not be the healthiest or cheapest option for consumers, as food businesses continue to respond to health and price concerns by adapting their recipes, according to new research.

Laila's Fine Foods secured a £58,000 grant from the local council

Laila’s Fine Foods Iceland deal worth millions

By Nicholas Robinson

Ready meal business Laila’s Fine Foods has landed a multi-million pound deal to supply Iceland with a new range of frozen Mexican ready meals, which will lead to a 25% increase in daily output, said md Laila Remtulla.

Coveney has faith in the future of Greencore's food-to-go products

Greencore sees growth in ‘food-to-go’

By Rick Pendrous

Greencore is expected to improve its financial performance over the coming year as its new focus on ‘food-to-go’ products both in the UK and US gathers momentum. Most City analysts have predicted a positive outlook for the Irish own-label convenience...

Greencore 'revolutionises' chilled ready meals

Join the chilled food 'revolution'

Greencore Prepared Meals claims to have revolutionised chilled ready meals with the development of retorted meals with peelable film. The firm makes retorted chilled meals for customers such as Weight Watchers and retailer own-label.

The premium ready meal market has experienced growth - and will continue to do so, says IRI

Ready meal UK sales hit £2.3bn over last year

By Laurence Gibbons

Ready meal sales in major supermarkets topped £2.3bn in the past year, fuelled by consumers switching from eating out to dining in with posh convenience lines, according to market analyst IRI.

July saw beer, ice cream and soft fruit all gain significant value in sales

Heat is on for food and drink in July

By Rod Addy

Beer emerged as the biggest food and drink winner from the July heatwave, with the category gaining £57.4M in value in that month, according to market analyst IRI.

2 Sisters said the horsemeat crisis would cause 'considerable volume reduction' in its ready meal business during the second half

Horsemeat scandal to hit 2 Sisters Food Group results

By Mike Stones

The 2 Sisters Food Group expects the horsemeat scandal to cause “considerable volume reduction” to its ready meal business, according to its latest financial results for the 13 weeks to January 26.

Ethnic foods continue to spice up our diet

Have a spice day

By Michelle Knott

Consumers' changing tastes are spicing up innovation in ethnic food products, says Michelle Knott

Playing it  cool

Playing it cool

By Michelle Knott

Elsewhere businesses are feeling the chill, but frozen food firms are keeping their cool, says Michelle Knott

We are family

We are family

By Rod Addy

The business started as a hobby in my kitchen when I was living in Lytham St Annes.

Chilled and frozen meals are showing tasty growth

Ready meals demand boosts sales for Laila’s

By Rod Addy

Laila’s Fine Foods is reporting substantial growth in frozen and chilled ready meals as Mintel figures suggest the UK market is experiencing significant growth.

Kettleby Foods

Samworth Brothers pushing for £1bn turnover

By Ben Bouckley

Samworth Brothers is hoping to turnover around £1bn within three years, as the Leicester firm confirmed that it will create at least 70 new jobs at its Kettleby Foods business.

'Strong' retailer concerns beset Kerry Foods acquisition

'Strong' retailer concerns beset Kerry Foods acquisition

By Ben Bouckley

Kerry Foods' acquisition of Headland Foods has been referred to the Competition Commission (CC) by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) for further investigation after retail customers expressed concerns.

Fenland Foods: Redevelopment would cost £30-40m

Multiples wouldn't commit to Fenland, analyst

By Elaine Watson

While the supermarkets have expressed “some interest” in the re-opening of the mothballed Fenland Foods factory, Northern Foods has been unable to secure firm commitments from any of them that would justify spending the £30-40m it would cost to make this...

ready meal

Chilled ready meals sales up 8.4% year-on-year

By Elaine Watson

Sales of chilled ready meals surged 8.4% in the year to July 11, while volumes shot up 14.4% over the same period, according to new data from Kantar Worldpanel.

My beef with you

My beef with you

Dunbia’s Sawley plant is the source of meat for many a pie and ready meal, John McAvoy tells Rod Addy

Stefan Barden

Job losses loom at Northern Foods' Swansea factory

By Elaine Watson

More than 230 staff face redundancy at Northern Foods’ ready meals plant in Swansea because bosses have failed to reach “mutually agreeable” terms with Sainsbury, its biggest customer.

Ready, steady grow

Ready, steady grow

By Michelle Knott

Despite a rash of recent closures in the ready meals sector, some manufacturers remain hopeful about the prospects for eventual recovery. Michelle Knott reports

Gourmet food at a gallop

Gourmet food at a gallop

By Paul Gander

While innovation is key, processes that give extended shelf-life are still the holy grail for ready meal producers, says Paul Gander

Handy and healthy

Handy and healthy

By Nicola Cottam

Manufacturers are battling to get the message across to consumers that ready meals can actually be healthy. Nicola Cottam investigates

Chilled fresh foods turn up the heat on frozen

Chilled fresh foods turn up the heat on frozen

By Michelle Knott

Speed, flexibility and shelf-life extension are the priorities for chilled ready meal manufacturers in their sales battle with frozen foods, as Michelle Knott discovers

Best of British

Best of British

The overall market may be flat, but premium ready meals and ready to cook ranges are booming. Rebecca Green discovers how health and a rekindled love for British food are playing their part

If you tolerate this

If you tolerate this

By Elaine Watson

The supermarket ambient free from aisle is bursting with new products, but head into the ready meals cabinets or your local pub and the pickings remain slim indeed for allergy and intolerance sufferers, says Elaine Watson

Is additive-free the future?

Is additive-free the future?

Until a few years ago no one other than diet obsessives read the back of food packs. Now, we're all food detectives, comparing fat content and...

Engineering the authentic thing

Engineering the authentic thing

Adrian Harding trained as a chemical engineer and is now implementing world class manufacturing and 'just-in-time' practices

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