'The final straw': UK smokehouse closes doors, leaving string of seafood suppliers unpaid
The company, whose brand was listed across multiple retail stores, blamed the closure on among other things, escalating energy costs.
A UK smokehouse has voluntarily entered liquidation and owes more than £1 million ($1.2 million/€1 million) in loans and payments to creditors, according to liquidation documents filed Jan. 19.
Mackenzies Yorkshire Smokehouse, a supplier to UK retailer Booths and others, said in the documents that the combination of COVID-mandated lockdowns and recent escalating energy costs forced it into bankruptcy.
"... [T]he level of the borrowing to purchase the business, borrowing to cover the business interruption and then to rebuild became too great a burden to service with the significant increase in overhead costs, in particular the electricity as their fixed-price contract ended becoming the final straw," according to the documents.
Seafood creditors include Grimsby-based salmon supplier JCS Fish, which is owed £35,759 ($44,246/€40,738) and Scottish salmon supplier Shetland's Finest, which is owed £54,646 ($67,616/€62,254).
Among the list of other seafood companies with unpaid invoices are AO Seafoods, Denholm Seafoods, My Fish Company, Trafalgar Fisheries and nearby trout farms.
The company, which in addition to a smokehouse includes a restaurant and retail store, posted revenue in 2019 of £1.7 million ($2.1 million/€1.9 million) when it was acquired by Paul and Gabby Palmer.
In 2020, Mackenzies secured a six-figure investment from NPIF – FW Capital Debt Finance, part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF).
NPIF is part of the UK government's "Northern Powerhouse" scheme, which aims to increase economic prosperity in northern England by providing funding to help small and medium-sized businesses grow.
The investment was to be used to develop Mackenzies’ manufacturing capability, to purchase equipment and additional stock and to invest in product development to expand its range.
It was also supposed to create seven new jobs while safeguarding a further 16 jobs, according to NPIF.
More smoked trouble
Mackenzies has close ties to another smokehouse that recently ran into financial trouble as well.
Bleiker’s Smokehouse, also based in Yorkshire, went into administration in April 2022 after the loss of a major retail contract and a continuing investigation into country-of-origin claims on some of its products.
The company was reputed to owe more than £2.8 million ($3.4 million/€2.8 million), including hundreds of thousands of pounds in debt to seafood suppliers.
Palmer formerly worked at Bleiker's, and his wife, Gabby, is the daughter of Jurg Bleiker -- founder of Bleiker’s Smokehouse.
Palmer resigned from Bleiker’s in April 2019, the same year he and his wife acquired Mackenzies.
New venture?
The future of The Yorkshire Smokehouse brand is unclear. Andrew Butler, a former manufacturing director at Mackenzies Yorkshire Smokehouse, has opened a new smoked salmon supplier on the same site called Yorkshire Speciality Foods.
The phone number listed on the Mackenzies website goes through to Yorkshire Speciality Foods. Butler, who is managing director of the new company, declined to comment on whether or not Mackenzies was still operational.
Butler did, however, say that Palmer was not involved with Yorkshire Speciality Foods, which was incorporated in September 2022.
The liquidation of Mackenzies is representative of the ongoing difficulties faced by smokehouses grappling with the effects of all-time record prices for farmed salmon.
Last year, average prices soared to NOK 100 (€10.50/$11.40) per kilogram.
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