Samworth Brothers is internally promoting Simon Wookey to CEO, with Hugo Mahoney leaving to ‘pursue other opportunities’.
Wookey, the current chief commercial officer at the food manufacturing giant, is to assume the leadership role from 1 July following a transitional period.
Leicestershire-headquartered Samworth Brothers owns an extensive portfolio including bakery brands Ginsters, Higgidy, Soreen, Urban Eat, West Cornwall Pastry Co, Dickinson & Morris, The Cornwall Bakery, Walkers, and recently acquired The Real Wrap Co.
It is also one of the main suppliers of own label food-to-go items to UK supermarkets such as sandwiches and wraps, produced at its three sites in Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire. Earlier this month, its Manton Wood division and The Real Wrap Co issued multiple product recalls as a precaution over risks of E. coli and listeria respectively.
Former Brakes CEO Mahoney is stepping down after more than two years at the helm of Samworth Brothers, having been appointed to replace the retiring Flor Healy in early 2022.
“Under Hugo’s leadership the business continued its recovery from Covid and its aftermath and rose to the challenge of successfully managing and mitigating significant inflationary pressures,” commented Samworth Brothers chairman Mark Samworth.
“With the Executive team, he has re-set our business strategy and has refined our operating model and ways of working to help us better act as one Samworth Brothers with our customers and suppliers.
“Samworth Brothers is well positioned for the future, and in the years to come the business will benefit from his development of our modernisation programme. Hugo has made a significant contribution to the performance of our business, and we wish him every success in the future,” added the chairman.
Wookey is continuing a career in the food industry that spans 35 years. Prior to joining Samworth Brothers as a group executive board director in January 2019, he was managing director of 2 Sister Group’s convenience business. He previously worked for two decades at fellow food-to-go supplier Greencore, holding a variety of senior commercial and managing director roles, and was also divisional president of prepared food at Maple Leaf Foods in Toronto, Canada.
Another internal shakeup at Samworth Brothers back in May saw Sam Mitchell transferred to the MD role of its Savoury Pastry category from the same position at Ginsters, with Stephanie Hildon was named as his replacement. Rival savoury pastry brand Pukka also recently announced the internal promotion of Isaac Fisher to become its new CEO.
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