Chef gives food company the chop

A MEAT and pastry supplier hit by Jamie Oliver’s campaign for healthier school dinners in Britain was broken up yesterday after failing to tackle debts of £20 million (€29.1m).

Canterbury Foods, which sold products to wholesalers who then supplied schools, pub brands and sandwich makers, called in administrators yesterday after banks refused to back a last-ditch refinancing proposal.

Around 200 jobs were subsequently saved as pastry-based manufacturing sites at Bridgend in south Wales and Sheppey and Whitstable in Kent were sold to a management team featuring Canterbury chief executive Paul Ainsworth.

The company’s meat products division was sold last week while an administration team at PricewaterhouseCoopers is looking for a buyer for a cooked meat products business employing 32 people at Yate, near Bristol.

Canterbury revealed in September that sales of meat products such as burgers and sausages dropped by £2.7m (€3.9m) in the first six months of the year because of the revolution in school dinners - a drive that coincided with a high-profile campaign from the celebrity chef.

Mr Ainsworth said at the time that demand for sausage rolls at the start of the autumn term had not seen the normal uplift. In December it warned that if agreement could not be reached with its banks there was “almost no prospect” of continuing to trade in its current form.

Ian Green, joint administrator for PwC, said the company had been suffering cash flow difficulties for some months.