Frozen foods chain Iceland Foods has hired Neil Nugent, who previously worked for rivals Asda, Waitrose, and Morrisons, to head up its newly-created private-label product development team.
The retailer appointed Nugent to the position of head of product development for its own-label brand.
Nugent started out as a restaurant chef and built up catering experience in Michelin-starred eateries before joining Walmart-owned Asda as innovations chef in 1997.
He took up the position of executive chef at Waitrose in 2008. He was responsible for the introduction of the Heston from Waitrose range, developing the Duchy Originals range as well as Waitrose Essentials brands.
As Morrisons' executive chef from 2011 to 2014, he set up its NPD division and led the introduction of the M Kitchen brand. He has also worked on a development project for Pizza Express.
Iceland has also appointed David Lennox to the role of Development Chef. He worked as a restaurant chef before transferring into the area of product development with Bakkavor. He went on to join upmarket grocer Waitrose, and worked with Nugent on developing the Heston range. He departed Waitrose for Morrisons in 2011 to take up the role of lead development chef at Morrisons.
Speaking on the announcements, Iceland's chief executive Malcolm Walker said, “These two senior appointments underline my personal commitment to making Iceland known for great quality food and cutting-edge innovation, as well as outstanding value. In Neil and David, we have recruited two of the brightest and most experienced stars in their field in the UK, and we are all hugely excited at what the future holds for the Iceland brand.”
Nugent added, “I am really looking forward to working with Malcolm Walker and the Iceland team to develop a quality brand strategy that has a major focus on innovation and on the many advantages of frozen food. Frozen food is every chef’s best friend and we will build on Iceland’s striking “Power of Frozen” campaign to make more and more people aware that freezing is simply the best way to preserve, store and manage their food.”
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
