Reflecting on 2023: A year of growth for Meadow

It’s hard to believe that 2023 is coming to a close – and what a year it has been here at Meadow! Despite various challenges thrown our way, our team has shown resilience and continued to deliver for our customers. From award wins to acquisitions, in this latest blog we take a look back at the year and celebrate some key milestones that we are proud to shout about.

Made in the North West

Back in May, our team attended Insider North West’s glitzy ceremony at Mercure Piccadilly Hotel, Manchester for the Made in the North West Awards. We were honoured to be shortlisted for two awards: Manufacturer of the Year (over £25m) and the Food and Drink Award. We were delighted to scoop the award for Manufacturer of the Year (over £25m), despite having some stiff competition! The judges praised us by saying: Meadow are innovating while at the same time increasing turnover and profit, working with local community, and local farmers.

Naked Foods acquisition

We are delighted that the business added another string to its bow in August this year with the acquisition of Naked Foods. Naked Foods is a respected and proven manufacturer within the food and beverage industry, producing a wide range of fruit and confectionery sauces for UK and Irish food companies from its BRC A* grade factory in Kent. Naked Foods slots in perfectly with our mission to provide customers with new capabilities and the best possible ingredients to support their food manufacturing businesses.

Fairfax investment

Another key milestone for the business this year has been Canadian holdings firm, Fairfax Financial, purchasing a significant equity stake in Meadow. It is testament to the progress the business has made and this new long-term partnership has allowed us to secure investment for future growth opportunities.

Meadow Inclusions

This year also saw the launch of Meadow Inclusions, formally Nimbus Foods. Since Nimbus was acquired by Meadow in 2019, we have been working hard to embed the organisation into the Meadow family. The business has continued to evolve and is now officially part of the Meadow brand.

Meadow Inclusions will continue to support customers by delivering delicious and innovative inclusions for all their food manufacturing needs.

Communications

With all the exciting new happenings, we understand the importance of making sure our customers are kept up to date with all the latest news and insights.

This year saw the launch of our  playbooks which are created in-house by our category experts. The playbooks share the latest food industry trends and predict new ones to help our customers stay ahead of the curve and benefit from the latest food manufacturing innovations.

Health and wellbeing

We’ve continued our focus on ensuring our colleagues are well supported in the areas of health and wellbeing. From free online PT sessions through to accredited mental health training and organised sports events, we’re committed to helping our colleagues stay well.

Charity support

Over the last 12 months we have been privileged to support a number of charities across our five sites. We all participated in the Macmillan coffee morning and have held several other successful events supporting charities and organisations close to our hearts. We were particularly proud to be involved in ‘Pick Ups for Peace’, an initiative to supply pick-up trucks to the front line in Ukraine to support the war effort.

This year has been another busy and exciting one for the business. The team at Meadow would like to thank all our loyal customers and colleagues who have all helped to contribute. Here’s to a successful and rewarding 2024, and we look forward to sharing our future innovations and opportunities with you in the coming months.

In the meantime we wish you a very happy Christmas!