Month: January 2013

Duerr’s, the oldest family-owned jam makers in the UK, has appointed Clive Sharpe as the first non-executive to its board.  The company is expanding the expertise of its board to consolidate on-going growth in the spreads and preserve sector.

Clive brings 33 years of food manufacturing experience, covering both branded and private label products and spanning sectors including breakfast cereals, petfoods, savoury snacks, ready meals, biscuits, ethnic foods, cooking sauces, sandwiches, savoury pastry and confectionery. He has spent half his career working in private equity backed businesses in executive and NED roles. Previously this included CEO of Golden Wonder and WT Foods, moving up to Chairman, NED of Largo Foods(Ireland) and also Chairman of Burtons Biscuits. He is currently Chairman of Quorn Foods and Peters Foods, and NED of Tangerine Confectionery, which he will retain.

Clive will challenge and contribute to Duerr’s development, opening new doors in the breakfast and homebaking markets for its range of jams, marmalades, spreads and condiments. In particular, the development and implementation of annual and strategic plans to achieve sales and profit targets, working alongside Chairman Tony Duerr, MD Mark Duerr and Sales and Marketing Director, Richard Duerr.

Mark Duerr, Managing Director explained:  “We are privileged to have Clive on our board.  He is bringing a wealth of experience and knowledge, joining the company at an exciting time in its evolution.  As the grocery trade becomes more and more competitive his skills will be invaluable as we maximise opportunities for growth.”

Clive Sharpe continued:  “Duerr’s is a brand and business with a great sense of family traditions and values, constantly innovating in product, quality and packaging to service its customers needs.  I am joining a company that loves to challenge the status quo and I can’t wait to match my experience with that ambition.”

 

Trade bible The Grocer interviewed Richard Duerr in detail for their report on the Spreads market, published today.  Quoted in detail in a report that pointed to a decline in marmalade, Richard argued that in fact Duerr’s sales had grown and despite the double-digit growth in chocolate spread, “It is unlikely that chocolate spreads would ever catch up with jam and marmalade in terms of volume as they are too expensive to be an everyday commodity. “It is the value share of these that remains high.”

The report also included Richard’s insight into innovation within the market: “Most NPD seems to focus on taking a much-loved product and adding something to it, but in my experience it rarely works.  However, there are opportunities that have yet to be exploited.”

Furthermore The Grocer report allowed Richard to announce both the company’s rebrand, to be rolled out later this year, and promote the launch of the online Baking for Boys series.

Following the publication of the report, Duerr’s went on to announce nationwide some breathtaking facts about their marmalade:

• Duerr’s sells 200k jars a week – equating to 1000 an hour
• Its sales are up by 5% over last 12 months
•  Duerr’s produces 10m jars marmalade a year from 7.5 million oranges
•  This generates $650,000 annually for Spanish economy in sales of Seville orange