Martin Loader Food Industry
Professional
Completed MBO of Devonvale Limited in May 2022
Managing Director
Formerly helping Owners & Directors in the Food & Drink Industry
with Sales & Marketing, Operations and Strategy.
About Me
With over 30 years of experience in the food industry I have been involved in my fair share of successes.
I started in the Foodservice, Leisure, Hopsitality and Cost sector, winning plaudits and awards for my sales achievements, team management and for creating from scratch a blue chip company's sales training manual.
I then transferred my skills and went into the Retail sector making major gains in all the major supermarkets.
Many of these successes were through innovation, adding value and NPD, directly driven via my own strategy.
I have been most recently a consultant and Commercial Director of a bakery company supporting the business owners and a consultant for an Italian cheese business, managing some of the top UK Retailers.
However in May 2022, I completed the MBO of Devonvale Limited www.devonvale.com and work
full-time in the business as Managing Director, supported by my senior management team.
In addition I find time to be a volunteer, providing fundraising support and social media help for a local charity.
Career Highlights
CURRENT:
Devonvale Limited - MBO completed in May 2022. First year sales growth of 13% by volume and 23% by value.
Commissioning of new site in 2023, doubling existing site capacity to fulfil growth and business plan.
PAST:
Bakery Business - Extraordinary growth of over 300% in sales. New operational structure initiated.
Responsible for all Commercial Activities, working alongside the Managing Director on operations and strategy.
Consultant to Managing Director & Finance Director. Made Board Director in Nov 2016.
Italian Cheese Company - 4 major retailers cold called & business gained (Morrisons, Asda, Booths & Ocado).
Local Charity - Developed new marketing & fundraising initiatives, including text donating.
Celebrity Chef - Created & launched innovative cheese brand into UK retailers & won best in the world award
for best packaging design. Also gained other consultancy work for the chef.
Italian Cheese & Continental Food Business - Retained c.£10m Sainsbury's account over a 5 month tender & review.
Pasta Sauce and Food Solutions Company - Outstanding sales growth of 45% in one year. Net profit growth of nearly 100% in one year from £245k to nearly £500k. Developed distinct new & very successful strategy in NPD & marketing.
Chilled Desserts Business - Big impact of c.£4.5m of business gained with 25 product launches in 6 months.
Added Value Poultry Company - c.£2m of new business gained via accounts inc. Aldi, Landmark & Independents. From a cold call, within 4 mths launched the 1st ever products in Tesco worth c.£1m p.a.
Poultry Business - Achieved gains of c.£5.5m with 19 product launches within a 12 month period.
Blue Chip Potato Company - Wrote the UK Company Training Manual. 12% p.a. increase YOY, 2 years in succession and developed a UK database. Won holidays to Bali & Mexico due to achievements in sales/team management.
POSITIONS HELD INCLUDE:
Managing Director - Bakery
Commercial Director - Bakery
Consultant - Italian Cheese and Continental Food
Brand Director - Celebrity Chef
Company Director - Own Business
Joint Managing Director - Pasta Sauce and Food Solutions
Account Director - Chilled Desserts
UK Sales and Marketing Manager - Poultry
Category Manager - Poultry
Business Manager - Potato Products
ADDITIONAL ROLES:
Pasta Sauce and Food Solutions Company - As joint MD, I made operational changes and recipe development to help the company with efficiencies and react to market needs. I was in the production area on a weekly basis.
Chilled Desserts Business - As Account Director., I worked with the MD, at his request on assisting the site with the new product launch strategy and approach and reported back on production and technical improvements I felt could be made. I was on site on a daily basis and in the production area a few times a week.
Added Value Poultry Business - As Category Manager, I was on site on a daily basis and in production most weeks working on new development and ways we could deliver products to meet our customers requirements.
Poultry Business - As UK Sales and Marketing Manager, I led the company in producing a brand new range of licensed products with innovative new packaging and new recipes, with improved meat content and added vitamins.
Strategy and Management
Profit focussed
Sales and Growth
30+ years sales experience
Marketing and NPD
Adding Value with innovation
Where to find me
"Martin is a person who always gives you 101% at all times, very honest and has a natural talent for marketing! A person who makes things happen, rather than sit and wait, a rare skill in these times"
"Martin was a key figure bringing both a highly professional business management approach but also a fun element. Martin worked diligently and tirelessly, bringing his broad and highly skilled knowledge base into play at every available opportunity. The resultant business successes were significant.
I would highly recommend Martin to anyone looking for a professional and experienced business consultant/manager"
"I would have no hesitation in recommending Martin Loader highly as a key business professional who has a very wide knowledge of the food retail and foodservice markets within the UK. Personally, he has very good communication skills and is really fun to work with"
"He was an excellent communicator and very professional in how he engaged with and serviced clients and internal stakeholders. I admired the way he adopted a "can-do/ make it happen" approach whilst keeping me appraised of developments and progress at all times.
Martin was a strong contributor to the business, delivering significant and sustainable new business"
Visit my LinkedIn for more information
www.linkedin.com/in/martinloader/
I’d love to hear from you.
Please message me using the contact form.
My contact details are also below:
Email: martin@devonvale.com
Mobile: 07906 088551