Chicken King set to gobble up Bernard Matthews

THE so-called Chicken King of Britain could be about to gobble up the Bernard Matthews’ turkey empire.

Businessman Ranjit Boparan, whose £3bn food empire includes 2 Sisters Food Group – which owns an array of businesses – and fish and chip brand Harry Ramsden’s, is eyeing up troubled Bernard Matthews.

The Norfolk-based turkey business is owned by private equity firm Rutland Partners but has been struggling in recent years.

The company previously came under fire for its Turkey Twizzlers that have been heavily criticised by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver amid health claims. Turnover has slid at Bernard Matthews, down from £346m three years ago to £276.7m last year.

Rutland has invested millions of pounds to turn it around and cut costs but is thought to now want to sell it on.

Boparan recently bought family-friendly food chain Giraffe from Tesco.

In 2011 his firm bought Northern Foods for £342m. Boparan’s businesses also include Goodfella’s pizzas and Fox’s biscuits, which is owned under the 2 Sisters Food Group. The firm processes six million chickens a week and makes 30million hot cross buns a year.

Boparan and his wife Baljinder founded their food firm in 1993. Their operations include factories and processing plants across the UK as well as chicken processing plants in the Netherlands and Poland. The business employs more than 23,000 in its 2 Sisters company, whose brands also include Holland’s pies and frozen food firm Green Isle. It also controls more than 700 farms in the UK.

There are a handful of food groups and producers eyeing Bernard Matthews. It was founded in 1950 by Bernard Matthews, who died six years ago. He started the business with 20 eggs and an incubator. It was bought by Rutland in 2013.

A Boparan spokesman said: ‘We do not comment on rumour or speculation.’