Joint venture just the ticket as newly-combined recruitment firms set for growth
Just Food Recruitment, the Nottinghamshire-based specialist recruitment firm for the senior food manufacturing industry, has joined forces with NJB Human Capital to form a new joint venture.
The move means that a new parent company has been formed – The JFR Group. Just Food Recruitment will continue to operate in the permanent and interim market of food manufacturing and NJB Human Capital working as a multi-sector senior executive search and selection firm.
JFR Group chief operating officer, Dave Boon, explained the reason behind the new venture.
He said: “Having set up Just Food in December 2019 we were obviously very excited to get the new venture off the ground and to start working closely with new clients and candidates.
“However, the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown hit the new company hard. Thanks to some early mornings and late nights, we managed to get through to the food industry’s busy summer and autumn periods which is when things started to pick up.”
NJB’s Ed Marler-Roe, The JFR Group’s new chief commercial officer, added: “I knew Dave through a mutual business interest and as we were both new companies operating in the same field, we thought it would make sense to help each other out. In a very short amount of time, we started working and filling a number of roles together across varying clients and it looked like this was a partnership that could flourish.”
With both clients and candidates approving of the new JV’s “180” approach to recruitment with a separated business development and delivery approach, enquiries increased to such an extent that the pair decided to make it official in the new financial year – and the JFR Group was born.
Now boasting a team of four, The JFR Group says it is looking to further expand with additional business development managers and delivery managers needed to help further expand the Just Recruitment brand.
Boon added: “In March 20 it was like someone turned off a tap. We had over a dozen interviews cancelled within 24 hours of the first lockdown being announced! But we had to stay afloat, so we successfully went after business in parts of the world that had continued to trade. We offered deals to companies that were busy in the pandemic and we ensured that we worked harder than the next guy.
“As things started to return to normal, people remembered that we spoke to them and listened to them during the worrying times in March, April and May and things started to progress nicely.”
With a new head office set to open in Newark in the coming months and with The JFR Group looking to grow into new markets such as renewables, construction and the sport industries in the next 12 months, Marler Roe says he is hoping to see a ‘Just XXX Recruitment’ company servicing most sectors in the UK before too long.
He said: “Between myself and Dave we have experience in a number of recruitment Sectors so we are interested in exploring other markets in the future, and with us both being ex- golf professionals, a Just Sports Recruitment company is definitely on the agenda!”
