Adelie Foods acquires Northern Irish business

Northern Irish ready-to-eat-food company, The Bite Group, which has depots in Belfast, Dublin and Cork has been acquired by a leading GBmanufacturer of sandwiches, chilled snacks and salads for major retailers such as Boots and Sainsbury's. Adelie Foods, which is headquartered in London, has acquired The Bite Group to strengthen further its existing manufacturing and distribution operation and provide the company with access to "the growing Irish food-to-go market". Adelie operates six modern facilities in Britain and produces four million fresh sandwiches and 250,000 salad packs every week. It has aportfolio of over 1,000 products. The Bite Group, formed 17 years ago by Northern Irish businessman Michael Keogh, supplies a range of quality brand and private label chilled ready to eat foods and third party products to the retail, food service, coffee shop and travel sectors in Northern Ireland andthe Republic of Ireland. Mark Keating, director of international business at Adelie Foods, who will be overseeing the integration of the business, says: "The deal is a great opportunity for both businesses and will allow us to extend our existing customer offer and enable them to share with us the exciting opportunities that lay ahead. "I am looking forward to working with its founder, Michael Keogh over the coming months." The Bite Group invested in a new 20,000 sq ft state-of-the-art production facility in Enniskillen in county Fermanagh during 2007 and has distribution centres in both parts of Ireland.