Wirral frozen food firm turns loss to profit and sees sales more than double to £11.3m after pivoting from retail to wholesale and targeting the fast-growing air fryer ready meals market. Tony McDonough reports
Frozen food firm King Parrot Frozen Foods (KPFF) is reaping the rewards of a major change in focus from retail to wholesale.
In 2022 KPFF owner Noel Davis closed nine loss-making retail outlets as he looked to turn around the fortunes of the business which had annual sales of just over £5m and pre-tax losses of almost £460,000.
Its latest annual accounts published on Companies House have vindicated this change in strategy. KPFF changed its accounting period, extending the latest accounting period by three months to December 31, 2024.
They reveal sales of £11.3m and pre-tax profits of £466,696. This compares to the 12-month period to September 30, 2023, when sales were much lower at £5.3m and the business saw pre-tax losses of £459,000.
Since closing its retail arm, KPFF’s main focus has been as a procurement, production and sale of frozen food products to multiple retailers. They include Farmfoods, Poundland, Nisa, Londis, Costcutter and Go Local.
Many of these outlets are independent businesses operating under franchises and, writing in the report, Noel Davis has set a target of eventually supplying 20,000 independent outlets.
“Of the 180 frozen products we supply 40 are produced by other manufacturers around the world (China, Belgium, France, Germany, UK and Ireland) under our brands and distributed through our distribution centre in Birkenhead.
“New product development is key to the growth and development of KPFF and this year saw the introduction of the UK’s first range of air fryer meals.
“These meals are now available in more than 2,000 stores and are currently selling more than 25,000 meals per week which is expected to reach more than 50,000 meals per week within the next six months.”
Speaking in May 2024 Noel said the idea for the air fryers meals came following a mealtime discussion with his three teenage children – Dara, Aoife and Rory.
“During a discussion in which my family were championing air fryers and how many times a week they use them, it suddenly came to me that we have the perfect products, the development and distribution network,” he explained.
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KPFF, which employs 65 people, is also utilising surplus capacity in Birkenhead by providing a logistics service to key customers. During the accounting period this generated revenues of £750,000.
Noel added: “Our strategy for 2025 is simple. Keep improving the range of products packed in our facility in Birkenhead and products packed under our brands by other manufacturers around the world.”