Simply Fresh Foods Acquired by Morrisons
Morrisons, the UK’s fourth largest supermarket group, has expanded its manufacturing division with the acquisition of Simply Fresh Foods, a supplier of stir-fry mixes, prepared vegetables and ready-to-eat salad products to the retail trade, for an undisclosed sum.
Based at Worsley near Manchester, Simply Fresh Foods will supply packed vegetable lines to Morrisons’ retail network of more than 425 stores. Morrisons operates 13 distribution centres and 13 manufacturing sites, including three abattoirs, in the UK.
Simply Fresh Foods was founded as Lenders Foods in the 1960s to grow and supply mushrooms and in the early 1970s progressed to growing bean sprouts. In 1997 the company began supplying prepared potato products to retailers.
Towards the end of 1999 Lenders Foods was acquired by Perkins Foods and was renamed Simply Fresh Foods. In October 2004 the current management team bought out Simply Fresh Foods and expanded the product range.
In late 2006, the original factory was destroyed by fire. A new state-of-the-art replacement factory was completed in June 2008 as well as refurbishment work on a second growing and cooking site. Production at the new factory commenced in July 2008.
