Plant-based food producer to be put up for sale

Plant and Bean slipped into administration on 31 May

Administrators at stricken plant-based meat producer Plant and Bean are exploring options for a sale of the business, TheBusinessDesk.com understands.

The manufacturer produces 55,000 tonnes of meat alternatives a year at its huge facility in Lincolnshire, where it employs hundreds of people.

It remains unclear how many jobs are at risk in Boston following the firm’s collapse into administration on 31 May. Joint administrators James Clark and Howard Smith of Interpath Advisory have confirmed that “approximately 25 employees” have been retained to assist with ongoing activities.

A spokesperson for Interpath told TheBusinessDesk.com no redundancies will be made “at this stage.”

Plant and Bean will continue to trade in a limited way for the time being, the administrators added.

Inflation across the firm’s cost base – primarily increases in food and energy prices – and operational issues are said to have resulted in “periodic interruptions” to production at the company’s Lincolnshire base.

James Clark, managing director at Interpath Advisory and joint administrator, said: “Businesses across the food and drink sector, and especially those in highly competitive sub-sectors such as alternative protein, are facing immense pressures at the moment, with rising costs impacting profitability.”

He added: “Over the coming days, we will be working with key stakeholders to explore the possibility of a sale of the business.”

Plant and Bean’s last available accounts, made up to the end of 2021, show the company owed its creditors £9m and was forced to take out a bank loan of around £2m that year.

It supplies the likes of Quorn, Princes and Wicked Kitchen.

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