Morrisons is launching a new marketing push for its wholesale manufacturing firm Myton Foods, as the supermarket’s private equity owners aims to recover lost ground following their £7bn takeover two years ago.
According to The Times, the retailer has now rebranded Myton Food Group in the hope that distinguishing its wholesaling activities from the Morrisons brand will yield more business from retailers, restaurants and catering firms.
The name is a reference to the country mansion Myton Hall – the Yorkshire home of the late Sir Ken Morrison – who transformed Morrisons from a small grocery store into one of the country’s biggest supermarket chains.
Morrisons is the second largest food producer in the UK and owns 19 food-manufacturing facilities, including a fish-processing plant in Grimsby and a fruit-packing plant in Bradford, that supply its nearly 500 supermarkets – as well as McColl’s convenience stores and Amazon’s grocery business.
The news comes after Morrisons announced last week that long-serving chief executive David Potts will stand down in November and be replaced by Rami Baitiéh, the boss of French grocer Carrefour’s domestic business.
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The supermarket chain has underperformed rivals since it was acquired by American private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice in 2021.
The fall in sales has resulted in a drop in production volumes at its factories. Although sales have begun to improve as of late, Morrisons hopes to win back more customers through the extension and promotion of its wholesale firm.
A Morrisons spokesman said: “We have taken the decision to significantly increase the amount of third party business that our food manufacturing business takes on and so Myton Food Group is now open for third party business and starting to welcome new customers.”
