FDBusiness.com

Petrow Food Group has strengthened the foundation for its future growth plans with the appointment of two new business development managers – John Lowe and Fatma Akalin McGee. Petrow Food Group supplies a wide range of dried fruit and nut products to a variety of independent and multinational food manufacturers, with product applications including chocolates, muesli, breakfast cereals, snack foods, ready meals, pickles, sauces and bakery products.

Fatma Akalin McGee joins the leading supplier of specialised ingredients to the food industry with a career spanning several senior roles in global and European ingredients organisations. Her career began in her native Turkey with a leading organic global food ingredients company, serving key international brands. She moved to the UK in 2009 to set up and run the company’s UK subsidiary.

During her career, Fatma has built a wealth of experience including operations, marketing, sales, imports, exports and logistics with a specialism in organic dried fruits.

John Lowe brings over 20 years’ experience in the food ingredients industry in the UK and Europe to Petrow. He comes to the business with vast experience of working for global companies based in the UK and Germany, with a key focus on dried fruits. His customer portfolio has included health foods, nutrition, culinary, cereal and confectionery.

John and Fatma will use their expanse of experience and knowledge to build on Petrow’s solid business base and help to develop its product portfolio according to new consumer and market trends.

The appointments come following the company’s £4 million investment and opening of its 80,000 sq. ft. factory and warehouse facility in Haverhill, Suffolk.

“The new site has increased production capacity to support growth within our ingredient product and contract packing business,” explains Petrow Food Group Managing Director, Ian Tatchell. “Both John and Fatma bring the knowledge and experience essential to deliver the specialist service to customers that is demanded in today’s evolving market.”

The 7.2 acre Haverhill site, previously purpose built for food ingredients, was opened by Petrow Food Group in 2015. Petrow has invested in the site and significantly upgraded processing and screening facilities whilst increasing capacity to support growth in the company’s ingredient product and contract packing business.

Petrow Food Group incorporates Petrow Food Industries (PFI) and also Quality Kernels Ltd, which it purchased in 2013. The group combines PFI’s leading know-how in chopping, pasting and slicing dried fruit with Quality Kernels’ expertise in nibbing, grinding, pasting and roasting a full range of nuts and seeds in a peanut-free environment.

The company can now offer the complete package of both the trading and processing of dried fruit, coconut, date, seeds and nut products (excluding groundnuts). The group continues with its blending and packaging lines at its Perivale site in West London, where it has a segregated facility for the handling of groundnuts and allergens. Both facilities have been granted and currently hold A rating certification under BRC Global Standards, the leading Food Safety Standard.

The group offers customers in wholesale and manufacturing a complete range of processing and packing services. It can also provide industrial, foodservice and retail clients a contract packing business.

All production takes place in allergen-controlled and organic approved environments and all products are fully traceable back to origin.

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Petrow Food Group’s new business development managers – John Lowe and Fatma Akalin McGee.