New 2 Sisters CEO sets out transformation agenda

8th October 2018

The new chief executive of West Midlands food giant 2 Sisters has announced plans to fulfil his vision for the future of the company. In the first week of his new role, Ronald Kers, ex- Müller global chief executive, informed his colleagues of his new ‘framework for success’.

After a two-month transition period, Mr Kers officially took the reigns as new CEO at the beginning of August. He took over from Ranjit Boparan, who moved into the role of president at 2 Sisters’ parent company Boparan Holdings in February.

2 Sisters is one of Europe’s leading food manufacturing companies, with 36 sites in the UK, producing red meat, poultry, chilled and frozen food, as well as big brand products such as Fox’s Biscuits for customers including Aldi, Asda, Marks and Spencers, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Morrisons, Lidl, KFC, Co-Op and Waitrose.

The company’s headquarters are located in Birmingham and it has several sites in Sandwell, including a site in Dial Lane providing specialist healthy living and premium ranges for a number of retailers.

Its UK Poultry division has a site on Howard Street Industrial Estate in West Bromwich, which produces and manages retail portions, the cutting of whole birds, de-boning of portions.

UK Poultry represents more than half of 2 Sisters’ business by sales. The division employs over 7,000 people working in a chilled environment to process poultry products which are then marketed to UK consumers via major retailers.

Mr Kers’ plans include the formation of a transformation team, an acceleration of the turnaround of all poultry operations in the UK and Europe, and the merger of its UK Poultry and Added Value divisions.

Current UK Poultry managing director Keith Packer will lead the merged divisions, with operational support from director Antonio Boparan, who will also head up subsidiary Amber Foods.

Mr Kers said: “My vision is to build 2 Sisters into a leading international food business, trusted and respected by all stakeholders. We need to be passionate about creating delicious, great value food and be inspired by what we can achieve. The responsibility that comes with this means that we continuously need to set the bar higher and deliver for our customers, consumers and ourselves. The journey to create this future has started.”