More than 600 jobs were lost when Kanes Foods Limited went into administration. On Friday, Primafruit in Evesham opened a drop-in morning for former staff looking for work. The fast response gave displaced workers a place to hand over CVs and hear about openings the same week their jobs disappeared.
Ivanka Semerdzkieva after Kanes Foods
31-year-old Ivanka Semerdzkieva said she learned by email that her job was gone after 10 years at Kanes Foods, including three years as a production shift manager. She said, "been on holiday for two weeks so I didn't expect that". She added, "It was a shock for me.... We were working like normal, orders were coming, we were doing our job and everything was like normal."
32 people attended the session, and more than 100 people were able to take their CVs to Primafruit. The company said about 12 permanent roles were being advertised, alongside about 100 seasonal jobs in the run-up to Christmas. Primafruit hoped some of those temporary jobs could become permanent later, giving former Kanes Foods workers a route back into steady work rather than a short stopgap.
Ben Murphy and the Monday meeting
38-year-old Ben Murphy said he had a senior job as a despatch team manager before the collapse. He said workers were told at about 15:30 GMT that there would be a meeting at 16:00, and then heard that "Kanes is no longer trading". He said "It was a shock for me."
Antoaneta Toncheva, who worked at Kanes Foods for almost eight years before leaving and returning three months ago, said, "We all knew that there were some financial difficulties, but nothing officially has been said to us." That gap between what staff sensed and what they were told left workers like Semerdzkieva and Murphy looking for answers and a wage at the same time.
Semerdzkieva said, "I need another job. I have family, I have two children, so I need to look after them, yeah." She also described Primafruit's response as kind, saying, "That was really kind from them and we appreciate that help. Hopefully they will give us some positions so we can start working." For workers leaving Kanes Foods, the immediate issue is no longer the administration itself but whether one of those openings turns into a contract they can depend on.
