Pilgrim’s Europe is one of the UK and Ireland’s largest food manufacturers, employing around 20,000 people across its operations. The business supplies major grocery retailers and foodservice customers with a broad portfolio of branded and own-label products, spanning fresh meat, chilled and frozen ready meals, snacking and added-value food. Its portfolio includes household names such as Richmond, Fridge Raiders, Rollover and Moy Park.
With extensive manufacturing capabilities and established relationships across UK grocery, Pilgrim’s plays a significant role in the UK food industry.
The Brief
Pilgrim’s Europe required an experienced Senior Commercial Manager to lead their Morrisons business, taking full responsibility for the commercial relationship, account strategy and P&L performance.
Operating within Pilgrim’s own-label division, the role demanded more than traditional grocery account management experience. The successful candidate needed to understand the commercial complexities of supplying a major UK retailer, balancing competitive pricing, manufacturing costs, operational performance and customer expectations while identifying opportunities for profitable growth.
The appointment also required someone capable of building relationships at senior level within Morrisons, negotiating commercial agreements and working closely with internal manufacturing, supply chain and innovation teams to deliver against customer requirements.
One of the challenges was attracting candidates with the right combination of grocery experience, own-label understanding and commercial leadership capability, particularly given the requirement to work full-time from Pilgrim’s Uxbridge office.
Having established a successful recruitment relationship with Pilgrim’s across their commercial and category functions, Allexo were appointed to support the hire through our Engage solution.
The Process & Results
Allexo approached the assignment by identifying commercial talent across leading own-label food manufacturers, alongside candidates from branded FMCG businesses with relevant grocery experience and the potential to transition into a more operationally complex environment.
Rather than focusing solely on job titles and account responsibility, we assessed candidates on their experience managing profitability, navigating challenging customer negotiations and working closely with manufacturing and supply chain functions.
The search generated a shortlist of candidates who could demonstrate the commercial judgement, customer management experience and leadership qualities needed to take responsibility for one of Pilgrim’s key retail partnerships.
A particular challenge emerged during the final stages, with the preferred candidate attracting significant interest from other employers and ultimately receiving three competing job offers.
Maintaining close engagement with the candidate throughout the process was particularly important, ensuring they had a clear understanding of the opportunity, the business and the longer-term career prospects available at Pilgrim’s.
Pilgrim’s secured an experienced commercial leader for a strategically important grocery account, while demonstrating Allexo’s ability to attract and secure sought-after FMCG talent in a competitive recruitment market.
