READY MEALS GET SET TOGO: FRESH FACES FOR FIID BOARD

Plant-based food brand Fiid, which emerged from an insolvency process last year, has appointed two heavy hitters from the food sector to its board.

According to filings at the Companies Registration Office, Fiid’s new board members will include Jacquie Marsh, former managing director of The Butler’s Pantry café and deli chain, and John Stapleton, co-founder of New Covent Garden Soup.

Shane Ryan, founder of Fiid, said Stapleton will join as chair of the board to support the strategic development of the business over the next three years. Marsh has joined as a non-executive director, and Ryan described her as a “huge champion of Irish food brands”.

Marsh was managing director of The Butler’s Pantry from 2000 to 2018 and remained a company director until May 2020.

Her LinkedIn profile shows that she has long served as a business mentor and is a lead advisor with Bord Bia and its Food Works programme.

Co Roscommon-born Stapleton was part of the team that set up and built the New Covent Garden Soup Co. The company grew the ready-made fresh soup category in the UK before it was sold to the food group Daniels in 1998 for about £25m.

Daniels was in turn sold in 2011 to US food firm Hain Celestial for $230m.

In 2005, Stapleton co-founded Little Dish, which supplies healthy meals and snacks to young children. He exited Little Dish in 2017 to a US-based private equity firm. He has served as an advisor on Food Works with Bord Bia and is also a founder-member of the investment committee of John Conroy’s Redesdale Food Fund.

Last July, Redesdale invested in Fiid, two months after a rescue deal was approved through the Small Company Administrative Rescue Process (Scarp). The Sunday Independent reported that the restructuring allowed Ryan to bring in €350,000 in investment from the fund.

In an interview with this newspaper in January, Ryan detailed how Fiid went through several difficulties leading up to the Scarp intervention. He said Sam Dennigan of the frozen food firm Strong Roots – a long-term and valued supporter – funded a financial consultant to help him find a way through the mess, with the consultant suggesting Scarp. Last week, Dennigan sold his Strong Roots business to frozen food giant McCain Foods.

In the January interview, Ryan said Fiid’s sales would hit €1.2m this year, the same point they were at last year before it became insolvent.