Wattie expands in Feilding

Press, 29 September 1979, Page 19

Wattie expands in Feilding

I PA Palmerston North Premier Food Processors has sold its Feilding assets to Wattie Industries, Ltd, reports Premier’s managing director (Mr J. Bull). Premier will retain its Rata potato processing factory’, and its marketing arm, Westerns Frozen Foods. Mr Bull said that the sale had been forced on his company, because steeplyrising costs had made it uneconomic to operate a relatively small frozen foods factory. Although Westerns Frozen Foods will be retained by Premier, the brand name “Westerns” has been sold to Wattie.

“We will be marketing our products using ‘Premier’ as a brand name after the changeover,” said Mr Bull. The chairman of the local process growers (Mr R. Mitchell) of Kimbolton, welcomed the news that the

; Feilding plant would continue operating.

i “Growers are delighted ' that the factory will stay ■open. We know that the local countryside has enormous potential for cropping, and the suggestion that Wattie may expand the operation can only benefit local farmers,” he said.