john demetriou kettle foods

Kettle Foods has appointed John Demetriou as head of category with immediate effect.

Demetriou, who joins fresh from a 10-year stint with Tesco where he was most recently category buying manager for toiletries, has joined the Kettle Foods team at its headquarters in Norwich, where he will be focusing on the company’s channel and customer category strategy with its key customers across the UK and Europe.

Prior to his latest position, Demetriou worked on Tesco’s red meat, cereal and confectionery categories, and also managed a Tesco store with responsibility for more than 500 staff.

Demetriou’s leadership and experience would be “a real asset” to Kettle Foods as it continued to expand its portfolio, said sales director Nicky Robinson.

“His expertise will help build on our current value growth of over 3% for the latest quarter, which is ahead of the market thanks to a record level of household penetration buying our brands.”

Demetriou said: “This is a particularly exciting time to join Kettle Foods following its launch into the ‘better for you’ snacking category with Kettle Bites, and the company’s interest in the increasingly popular Metcalfe’s Skinny Popcorn.”