The Compleat Food Group, a leading supplier of chilled foods, has announced the appointment of former Burton’s Biscuits boss Nick Field as its new chief executive officer.
Field recently left Burton’s because its new owner, Ferrero, combined the Wagon Wheel and Jammie Dodgers maker with Fox’s Biscuits.
His former number two Simon Browne, who was managing director under Field, took charge of the enlarged group.
Field joined the biscuit business in 2004 after attaining an accountancy qualification at professional services firm PwC.
Throughout his 18 year tenure, he worked in various roles including commercial finance manager, commercial strategy and finance director, before being promoted to chief financial officer in 2014 and then chief executive in 2016.
He played a pivotal role in Burton’s resurgence in recent years, leading a turnaround following the sale of a licence to make Cadbury biscuits to Mondelez International.
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After Sales boomed during the early stages of the pandemic, the group was acquired by Ferrero in June last year.
Compleat’s executive chairman Paul Monk said Field brought “a wealth of management experience”, especially over the past six years as the business embarked on “a wide-ranging transformation programme”.
Monk added: “That transformation was instigated by the sale of the Cadbury’s licence, which necessitated a strategic reset and rebuilding of Burton’s business.”
“This resulted in accelerated sales growth and increased profitability, as well as significant cultural change, and culminated in the successful sale of the company to Ferrero last year.”
Compleat was formed just last year following a double deal struck by French PE house PAI Partners that brought together Addo Foods and Winterbotham Darby in a bid to create a chilled foods platform.
The group reached another agreement to add pie maker Wrights Food Group to its holdings.
