Finsbury Food Group

Source: Food and Drink Digital

Date :29/10/2007 12:12:36

Sailing on clear blue water

Memory Lane Cakes is the Finsbury Food Group’s founding subsidiary and has achieved impressive growth since its acquisition in 2003. Innovations Director Kevin Binns tells about this success and how he keeps his high-profile customers happy

Written by Sam Wright & Produced by Hannah Edwards

Memory Lane is a supplier of pre-packed cakes to multiple retailers, including many leading supermarkets. Production is focused on an eight acre freehold site in Cardiff, with sales at well over £50 million per annum.

Kevin Binns has been working for the company since 1997, initially starting on a youth placement before being offered a job after his graduation in 1999. He began his employment as a project manager in the product development department, before moving on up a couple of years later to Product Development Manager. In December last year he was promoted to Innovations Director.

Consistency

Having worked with Memory Lane before it became part of Finsbury, he says the company has remained constant, in day to day terms at least, since the acquisition. “To be honest,” he says “there’s not been a great deal of change, apart from the company getting a lot bigger. Dave Brooks, who was the MD of the company, moved on to be the CEO of Finsbury Food Group, so it still feels quite like a family run business. None of the senior management team has really changed. It has just expanded.”

This growth is continuing to increase with Marks and Spencer, currently the only major UK supermarket chain that Memory Lane doesn’t supply, which is all set to begin to carry their products. “We’re due to launch some products with them soon.” says Mr. Binns, adding that that they would be small cake items similar to their lines for Tesco and Sainsbury’s.

New product development is obviously an area that he is greatly interested in, and with Memory Lane launching many new lines each year, he was keen to talk us through the process from concept to launch.

“Our initial product brief can come in from several areas,” he says. “We like to think that anyone in the company can have a good idea. A good idea is a good idea after all, regardless of where it comes from.

“It can come from almost any angle, from anyone that has some sort of association with the department. Anyone with a vested interest in the company doing well is welcome to send in an idea, and those ideas are filtered. I think it’s really important to have inspiration from everywhere.

“Our senior buyer, for instance, has a real vested interest in development and is always coming up ideas; some good, some a little bit wacky. It’s important to capture innovation, no matter the source.”

Mr. Binns attributes this approach to the company’s impressive sales, which they feel have the capacity to increase by at least £10 million in the future.

“In my opinion,” he says, “this is why the company has grown and done so well. We’ll never turn an idea down without thoroughly examining it. It’s never just discarded or brushed aside, and this has always been the case.”

Keeping to boundaries

Good ideas are one thing, but having the conviction to push them through is another. Just over a year ago, Memory Lane re-launched the Tesco Finest and Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference ranges, removing all artificial preservatives and effectively reviving both lines. Mr. Binns admits that neither retailer really knew the company was working on both lines concurrently and that keeping ‘clear blue water’ between the various products across retailers can be a bit of a headache, but one that he is more than happy with.

Balancing acts like this are common to Memory Lane, with consumers demanding fewer E numbers and additives within the cakes products while still expecting long shelf lives and uniform appearances.

“We can, and have done,” he explains “take hydrogenated fats out of all our products without affecting taste, but there does come a point when you’re getting a shorter and shorter shelf life and the moistness of the cake becomes affected.”

The company are committed to meeting the demands of an ever-more health conscious public, for instance converting their complete range of children’s products (Smarties,

Rowntrees, Milky Bar among others) to remove all artificial flavours and artificial colours, but it admits that the quality of the product, or ‘yumminess’ as Mr. Binns calls it, is still more important to the customer.

All this, together with even the most successful ranges being re-launched at least every 18 months, means that each product is constantly being reassessed. Mr. Binns is aware of this dichotomy, explaining that the firm has found out through its research ‘that consumers like refreshment but they don’t like change too often.’

Acknowledgement

Earlier this year, Finsbury Food Group plc moved its registered office to Cardiff. This recognised Memory Lane Cakes contribution to the Group as its founding subsidiary, another impressive event in a year which saw sales climb up to £56.2 million, a rise of £5.6 million from the last year, and year on year growth rise by 28 percent.

“As a group,” explained Mr. Binns, “we’ll always be seeking out decent acquisition opportunities. We’ve just acquired the Weight Watchers brand, Anthony Alan, for example. And at Memory Lane, we plan to continue this growth as far as we can go”