Collapsed smoked fish business Bleiker’s Smokehouse has been brought out of administration by US seafood supplier, Seriously Fish USA.
The North Yorkshire-based company has appointed seafood industry veteran David Smith to manage the business, along with a new management team.
The company is currently carrying out maintenance so production can restart in a few weeks’ time.
“We have exciting times ahead of us and we will be announcing some major partnerships in the coming weeks,” said Yorkshireman Smith.
The Bleiker’s name will be retained so “loyal customers will know that we remain true to the company values of great quality products and service”, he added.
The new management team has brought back key employees, previously made redundant through the administration, with Bleiker’s new owners planning on returning the company to its original staffing levels by early 2023.
Bleiker’s Smokehouse under investigation for food fraud as it enters administration
The business, previously a supplier of fish products to major UK supermarkets and had 86 members of staff, was placed into administration by its owners on 29 April and is currently under investigation by the FSA due to food fraud concerns.
One of the administrators, Martyn Pullin, said at the time that “the loss of a significant contract left the business in a difficult financial position”, which resulted in the company ceasing trading and redundancies being made.
At the time of administration, Gavan Wafer, head of investigation at the FSA’s National Food Crime Unit, said the investigation had been launched because of “a number of alleged issues including concerns about country of origin claims on some of their smoked salmon products”.
The FSA confirmed to The Grocer this week that the food fraud investigation was still ongoing.
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