Dawn Foods, the bakery ingredients producer, has recruited a new boss to head up its business in the UK and Ireland.

Chris Jenkins has joined as cluster director for UK and Ireland following the promotion of Karl Brown to vice-president of global planning.

Jenkins will oversee all Dawn business, including sales, marketing and customer services, working closely with HR, finance and the supply chain.

He joins the group from Belgian bakery and patisserie company, Gourmand, where he was the UK sales manager. This follows an expansive career in the UK and Europe across multiple channels in the food and grocery sectors with brands such as Marlow Foods, Sara Lee and Mars.

Commenting on his new role, Jenkins said: “I’m thrilled to join Dawn at such an exciting time of growth and bring my experience to a new challenge. We’re set to launch a number of new products in the UK and Ireland in 2016, substantially increasing the range of products available to our customers and strengthening Dawn’s position in the market.”

Brown added: “I would like to welcome Chris to Dawn Foods and thank all of our customers with whom I have greatly enjoyed working over the years. I’m confident Chris will be a brilliant asset to the Dawn team and look forward to the exciting plans we have for 2016.”