henderson brown
HB Recruitment Director, Jason Kilbride, was asked by Your Food Job to carry out a 60-second interview to get to know him a little better.
How long have you worked in food recruitment?
I have worked in the sector for 6 ½ years.
What do you love most about working in food recruitment?
It’s such a diverse and intriguing sector to be a part of, making key introductions to food businesses and seeing how we help shape their future. It’s great to be able to understand the journey right through from product innovation to the consumer purchase. It’s a sector I have grown such a passion towards and as with everyone here we have such strong links within it.
What’s the best piece of advice you could give to a candidate?
Build relationships with a recruiter you trust, they will then really understand what you are looking for or if your ideal career move came up even if you are only passively looking. We are in tune with the market place and can offer great advice, it’s good to have someone in your corner that will even know about the opportunities that may not be out in the mainstream but could be your perfect role. But pick up the phone and call, don’t just send in a CV!
What’s the best piece of advice you could give to an employer?
Make sure you work with a recruiter who really wants understands your business and is selling the opportunity and your brand in the correct way. It’s a reflection on your culture and the way you operate, recruiting through a consultancy is a great way to promote your business, its culture and its prospects. At the end of the day they are an extension of you and your voice in the market place, make sure it’s the correct message sent out.
What is your favourite food?
Has to be Tapas, a little bit of everything!
Tell us one thing about you that your staff don’t know.
A few of them may have uncovered this one, but I have actually represented England at Futsal (Small sided football) and have 41 caps for my country playing all over the world. If I hadn’t already told them they will definitely know about it now!
Henderson Brown Recruitment Ltd relocating to purpose built new offices, with twice the amount of space compared to the old office, there is plenty of room to grow and meet our clients’ needs in the future.
| Henderson Brown Recruitment Ltd Sign |
Still situated in Minerva Business Park, almost next to the A1 at Peterborough, this 2 floor building features 3 meeting rooms perfect for client and candidate visits.
| Reception Area |
To celebrate our move, we are hosting a drinks party tomorrow evening, Thursday 21st January from 4pm-7pm. Many of our clients from the Food Manufacturing and Fresh Produce industries will be there. We are looking forward to a good evening and an even better new year!
| Front view of the office |
The hand-harvested UK-grown spears are specially-selected for their higher-than-normal levels of the amino acid asparagine
Barfoots’ crown jewel asparagus is set to go on sale exclusively at Ocado.
The hand-harvested UK-grown spears are specially-selected for their higher-than-normal levels of the amino acid asparagine which, Barfoots claims, among other attributes, gives it a sweeter and stronger flavour.
The crown jewel line will be exclusive to the online retailer, which also supplies other Barfoots Grown With Love range products, including sweetcorn elotes.
James Meers, business unit director, said: “We were blown away by the success and the amount of interest crown jewel got last year, so I am really excited to see it return.
“The rating system on Ocado gave us direct consumer feedback and five stars out of five tells me this is a product that consumers really get – I am proud that we can say it has been Grown With Love.”
Cattle prices are coming under pressure from slow consumer demand and ample supply, Eblex has warned.
This combination, experienced by both domestic and imported beef, continues to drive some restraint among processors, the red meat levy board reported, resulting in “downward pressures” on the prime cattle market.
In the week ending 18 April prices for all classes of cattle fell – all prime deadweight cattle prices were 3p down on the previous week.
Similar pressures have been felt in the Scottish beef cattle trade, where animals have been kept on farms instead of being sent for slaughter. Eblex said this was giving rise to fears the beef market could return to the crisis point it found itself in last year when the beef price crashed.
However, Debbie Butcher, senior market analyst at Eblex, said this could change as the season moves into its “transitional period”.
“This development has been a feature of the market for a couple of months or so and reflects the continued imbalance in supply and demand. However, with the expectations that cattle supplies are set to tighten, (throughputs in March and April so far suggest this may have already started) the balance in the trade could move into a position that is less out of kilter, in particular as the season moves towards its transitional period between yarded and grass-fed supplies,” Butcher commented.
Eblex reported that lower cattle numbers in Ireland, resulting in fewer imports, could help support the market in the medium term.
“However, with the current fine weather unlikely to stimulate demand for roasting cuts, it is likely that caution among processors could persist in the short term, which, coupled with the euro exchange rate and its impact on the competitiveness of UK product on the continent, continues to offer some downside risk to the trade,” Butcher concluded.
Crawshaws Butchers saw sales rise 17% in the year ending 31 January 2015, helped by a new site opening.
The company’s year-end results to the end of January revealed that total group sales rose from £21 million (m) in 2014 to £24.6m, with profit before tax standing at £1.2m.
Average customer spend has continued to rise, according to Crawshaws, up 3.5% to £6.22 versus last year. The company explained that this was down to a focus on larger value packs and multi-buy offers. Customer numbers are 3.2% higher than last year “driven by our hot cooked products as we improve the range and consistency of our lunchtime and take-home offer”, the report added.
Chairman Richard Rose said: “I am pleased to say that, in November, we moved from three separate head office and factory locations into one newly refurbished facility in Rotherham. This single location can now support up to 60 shops and also contains a new factory shop, which is performing well above expectations.”
Crawshaws Butchers has 22 retail outlets, as well as a manufacturing and distribution centre, across Yorkshire, Humberside, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire.
The company said: “In line with our growth strategy, we have now successfully launched 10 new shops in Retford, Castleford, Chesterfield, Mansfield, Huddersfield, Doncaster, Bramley, Derby, Sheffield and, more recently, a factory shop at our head office site in Rotherham.”
Crawshaws has a plan to open 200 shops, and Rose added: “The post-year-end acquisition of Gabbotts Farm has provided 11 additional profitable shops and a distribution centre in the north west of England. We have also recently signed leases on new shops in Leeds and Bolton, which are currently being fitted out. In addition, there are a number of other locations in the process of being signed up.”