The Compleat Food Group has named Nick Reade as its first UK managing director.
The newly-created role at the London-headquartered business – which owns brands including Wall’s Pastry, Pork Farms, and Wrights – will report directly to CEO Nick Field.
Reade joins Compleat following 11 years at Mars, where he was most recently GM UK & Ireland for the food & nutrition division as well as head of e-commerce for Europe. His career also includes senior roles at GSK and PepsiCo.
With a wealth of experience in the UK food sector, Reade will now be responsible for shaping and delivering Compleat’s commercial strategy and bringing together its customer, category, product, marketing, and outsourced functions.
His arrival comes at a significant time for the company, which recently acquired a 50,000 sq ft chilled sauces and soups facility in Bristol from Greencore. This allowed the Competition and Markets Authority to approve Greencore’s proposed £1.2bn takeover of Bakkavor.
Compleat’s latest purchase saw its turnover reach £1.4bn, with all staff transferred to increase the group’s total workforce up to 6,300 across 18 sites. It has completed several acquisition over the past two years including The Real Yorkshire Pudding Co, Freshpak, SK Foods and Zorba Foods, and the speciality food producer and distributor Harvey & Brockless.
Commenting on his appointment, Nick Reade said: “The growth of The Compleat Food Group since its inception in 2021 has been fantastic to observe and the opportunity to be part of its continued success was hugely appealing.
“With its exciting brands and category-leading capabilities, alongside its ‘Food to Feel Good’ ethos, this is a business that really embraces a modern entrepreneurial spirit with genuine heart and purpose. I’m looking forward to getting around the business and our customers to continue to innovate, drive standards and create delicious, tasty food,” he added.
CEO Nick Field expressed his delight at welcoming Reade to The Compleat Food Group. “He brings deep experience in UK FMCG, a track record of driving commercial performance, and a leadership style focused on clarity, accountability and empowering teams to do their best work,” he noted.
“The creation of this role and Nick’s appointment completes a new enhanced leadership structure for the group which will support in driving the next phase of our journey, building on our commitment to deliver great tasting products, sustained category growth and delighting our customers and consumers alike,” Field said.
Last September, Compleat unveiled a brand refresh aimed at unifying its ‘Food to Feel Good’ purpose across all touchpoints, from internal culture to external communications. Its Wrights the Bakery retail brand has also begun rolling out a refresh of its shop estate, coinciding with its 100th anniversary this year.
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