Neil Nugent has joined the team at The Flava People as a non-executive Director to help drive its ambitious innovation strategy for retail in 2021.
The news comes at the end of a busy year for The Flava People, which has seen it continue to drive forward a rapid growth business plan, which has included team growth, a brand refresh, vibrant new packaging, development of product lines and NPD, and a new website,
One of the most respected names in the retail chef industry, Nugent has a long and successful history of creating brands for retailers that resonate with consumers nationwide.
With nearly 30 years’ experience in food development, Nugent has worked with some of the biggest names across the board. Working with the likes of Asda, Morrison’s, Pizza Express, Iceland and Waitrose, he's used his skills of spotting the next big trend to develop many of their most successful meal ranges and food concepts, including helping to bring Japanese and Indian street food to the forefront of the consumer market.
Nugent also designed and launched award-winning supermarket Kitchen and development centres, and became Quality Food Awards ‘Food hero of the year’ 2017.
Scott Dixon, The Flava People;s Managing Director, said, “There's arguably no chef better equipped at converting exciting trends into successful retail concepts than Neil.
'Bringing Neil into the team was an easy decision to make; his experience working hand-in-hand with some of the biggest names in retail food and drink, coupled with our existing clients including YO! and Iceland, puts us in a great position to be recognised as the go-to partner for culinary collaborations. What’s more, he’s a great Northern chef who's obsessed by food and flavour at heart.
“As we head into a rapidly-changing retail landscape and what’s set to be an even busier 2021, having Neil on at The Flava People will continue to bolster our now incredibly strong leadership team, as we look to flood the market with innovation and collaborations this next year across multiple retail categories.”
Nugent joins a retail-savvy team of Chris McLaughlin (non-exec Director), Ali O'Brien (Commercial Director) and Matthew Davison (Head of Retail), as The Flava People look set to make big waves across retail in 2021 with several multi-category launches on the horizon.
Crafting award-winning products for some of the biggest names in the business, The Flava People was born out of the British butchery trade 44 years ago, so they understand the need to provide outstanding, high quality products to keep customers coming back for more. Today the team produce a huge range of award-winning products for some of the biggest names in the business, including sauces, seasonings, cooking pastes, marinades all set to complement the meat, fish, veg at the heart of the food industry.
In addition to creating bespoke own-label products, The Flava People specialise in working closely with their customers to convert big trends into food and flavour concepts that are both completely unique in the market but also universally accessible.