Plant-based co-manufacturer Plant & Bean has appointed administrators.
The UK meat-alternatives company has experienced “significant inflation” across its cost base, primarily increases in food and energy prices, according to a statement from Interpath Advisory, the company handling Plant & Bean’s administration.
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Interpath also stated the business suffered from operational issues which resulted in periodic interruptions to production.
Around 25 employees have stayed at the plant-based company to continue day-to-day operations, following the appointment of James Clark and Howard Smith from Interpath.
The plant-based group is carrying out limited trading while the administrators explore options for the sale of the business and its assets.
Founded in 2019 and based in Lincolnshire, Plant & Bean is a food manufacturing business that operates in the alternative protein sector, manufacturing for the likes of Quorn, Princes and Wicked Kitchen.
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By GlobalDataJames Clark, managing director at Interpath Advisory and joint administrator, said: “Businesses across the food and drink sector, and especially those in highly competitive sub-sectors such as alternative protein, are facing immense pressures at the moment, with rising costs impacting profitability.”
He added: “Over the coming days, we will be working with key stakeholders to explore the possibility of a sale of the business.”
Plant & Bean opened the Boston, Lincolnshire facility in 2020 and labelled it “Europe’s largest production facility”. The facility has a production capacity of 55,000 tonnes.
In the company’s annual results ended 30 December 2021, Plant & Bean owed its creditors more than £9m (£11.2m) and took out a bank loan of around £2m.
Elsewhere in the UK food industry, it has emerged UK ready-meal manufacturer Oscar Mayer has been taken over by debt providers Pemberton Asset Management as it attempts to “restore profitability”.
