Latest Team News

Read about what's going on and our latest events and achievements.

Celebrating 20 years at Kanes

What were you doing back in September 1998?
Cliff Millington had just started a new job at Kanes Foods and he’s still at it! This month we celebrated his 20 year anniversary…

Kanes Sports Court Opening

Newly renovated Kanes Sports Court opens and is available for all employees to use for Tennis, Football and other sports

SMT briefing

The Kanes Foods Senior Management Team held their quarterly briefing at local Evesham hotel.

Meet the Team

Read about some of the people that make Kanes Foods a special team.

Izabela Kozlowska

Laura Elam

Laura Elam

Laura is one of Kanes' New Product Development Technologists and joined the Kanes Commercial Team at the beginning of 2018. Laura's been working in food for three years and her colleagues describe her as one of the nicest people you could wish to meet...

Tell us a bit about your job...
How would you describe your job to a child?	Making new salads for supermarkets.
What does a typical day look like?	Brainstorming ideas and developing new products in the kitchen, planning and running factory trials and completing product paperwork.
What’s been your greatest achievement or what are you most proud of since joining Kanes?	Taking kitchen concepts and factory trials to our customers' head office for product approval before launching them into store.
What’s the best thing about your job?	Seeing concepts and ideas launch in supermarkets.
What three words would you use to describe your role?	Creative, Innovative, Rewarding.

Tell us a bit about you...
What gets you out of bed in the morning?	A very excitable 9 month old puppy!
What’s your personal motto?	Always remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.
What’s your nickname?	Lau
If you could swap jobs with someone, who would it be and why?	Mary Berry, because you could learn so much and bake cakes all day.
If you could choose anyone as a mentor, who would it be?	Michel Roux Jr.
What’s your most memorable facepalm moment?	Following one way signs in Austria thinking it was the sign for the train station (despite doing A level German) and getting very lost.
When was the last time you laughed so hard you cried?	After sharing a bottle of wine with my brother.
What’s your specialist subject?	Baking
If you could have a superpower, what would it be?	Invisibility

What do you like...
Coffee or Tea?	Tea
Favourite food?	Cake
Favourite Drink?	Rosè
Favourite Film?	Lion
Football team?	None
Favourite book?	Goodnight Beautiful
Best place for a holiday?	Tolon, Greece
What’s your favourite line from a film?	‘You only get one life, it’s actually your duty to live it as fully as possible’ - Me Before You.
What’s your guilty pleasure?	Biscuits – especially Custard Creams
What was the last song you downloaded?	Castle on the Hill- Ed Sheeran

Mohammad Kamran

Mohammad Kamran

Mohammad is one of the Process Leaders in Kanes' Stir Fry team, responsible for managing the stir fry preparation lines and ensuring that the vegetables and produce are a really good quality for our customers. He's been at Kanes for six years having previously spent two years in the retail sector. Mohammad is one of our tough guys, hard-working and incredibly dependable...

Tell us a bit about your job...
How would you describe your job to a child?	I chop up all the vegetables that you get in your stir fry at the supermarket.
What does a typical day look like?	Very busy. I get a brief at the start of my shift that tells me what orders we've received and then with my team, we start making products straight away.
What’s been your greatest achievement or what are you most proud of since joining Kanes?	Whilst working at Kanes I've managed to save enough money to get my own house. I think that's probably what I'm most proud of.
What’s the best thing about your job?	I have a very good team with me.
What three words would you use to describe your role?	Experience. Challenge. Motivation.

Tell us a bit about you...
What gets you out of bed in the morning?	I get up early each morning for prayers.
What’s your personal motto?	Support my family.
What’s your nickname?	Chhota naam barakam (small name, big work)
If you could swap jobs with someone, who would it be and why?	Imran Khan - he was my favourite cricketer.
If you could choose anyone as a mentor, who would it be?	Allama Iqbal - he was a poet and a philosopher in Pakistan.
What’s your most memorable facepalm moment?	I don't really remember ever having one to be honest!
When was the last time you laughed so hard you cried?	Probably in my childhood - about 15 years ago.
What’s your specialist subject?	Science, although I like Maths too.
If you could have a superpower, what would it be?	I'd love to be a magician.

What do you like...
Coffee or Tea?	Tea
Favourite food?	Biryani
Favourite Drink?	Water (Zam Zam)
Favourite Film?	'Don' - it's a Bollywood thriller about an undercover mission to get close to the drugs mafia.
Football team?	Arsenal
Favourite book?	The Quran
Best place for a holiday?	Kashmir - I have uncles and aunties living there.
What’s your favourite line from a film?	‘I am a wanted man across the world, but you must understand one simple fact... it is not difficult to catch Don, it is impossible!'
What’s your guilty pleasure?	I love playing cricket but that's not really a guilty pleasure... I don't think I have one!
What was the last song you downloaded?	'Nines'

Alina Feraru

Alina Feraru

Alina has been with Kanes for four years and is now one of the Process Leaders in our stir fry factory.

Before joining Kanes, Alina hadn't previously worked in the food industry, having trained in Journalism in Romania before moving to the UK, but she's quickly developed a passion for the fresh food we produce and she brings an infectious enthusiasm to everything she does...

Tell us a bit about your job...
How would you describe your job to a child?	I am one of the people who prepare the foods you can buy in supermarkets.
What does a typical day look like?	There are no 'typical' days! Every day is different.
What’s been your greatest achievement or what are you most proud of since joining Kanes?	Kanes is the place where I met my future husband.
What’s the best thing about your job?	There are too many good things.
What three words would you use to describe your role?	New challenge everyday.

Tell us a bit about you...
What gets you out of bed in the morning?	My fiancée
What’s your personal motto?	See the invisible, believe the incredible, achieve the impossible.
What’s your nickname?	Alinka
If you could swap jobs with someone, who would it be and why?	I would love to swap jobs with our production manager, Rafal, so that I could make all the decisions for one day.
If you could choose anyone as a mentor, who would it be?	My ex-supervisor, Magda. I learnt a lot of things from her.
What’s your most memorable facepalm moment?	Trying to get to the seaside by car on two consecutive days and the car broke down on both days.
When was the last time you laughed so hard you cried?	Last Saturday.
What’s your specialist subject?	Journalism.
If you could have a superpower, what would it be?	I'd love to be able to travel through time.

What do you like...
Coffee or Tea?	Coffee
Favourite food?	All Romanian food
Favourite Drink?	White wine
Favourite Film?	Man of Honour
Football team?	I prefer Baseball, but for football it would be Liverpool.
Favourite book?	Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Best place for a holiday?	Paris! It's so romantic.
What’s your favourite line from a film?	"You can't handle the truth!"
What’s your guilty pleasure?	Chocolate
What was the last song you downloaded?	'Perfect' - Ed Sheran

Vlad Lukjanciks

Vlad Lukjanciks

Vlad Lukjanciks is responsible for buying the packaging and non-produce materials at Kanes Foods and describes himself as a 'Problem Solver'. He's got a great deal of experience, having worked in food for the last 17 years and he prides himself on making the impossible possible...

Tell us a bit about your job...
How would you describe your job to a child?	I go shopping, just like you do, but with a much bigger trolley.
What does a typical day look like?	Dealing with problems and planning strategically to avoid firefighting..
What’s been your greatest achievement or what are you most proud of since joining Kanes?	Introducing new recyclable plastic materials to UK market.
What’s the best thing about your job?	Innovations and projects. Small changes with big impact to change the environment.
What three words would you use to describe your role?	Never ever bored.

Tell us a bit about you...
What gets you out of bed in the morning?	Let’s be honest, a good bacon sandwich.
What’s your personal motto?	I will do today what others won’t, so that I can do tomorrow what others can’t.
What’s your nickname?	My friends call me a Machine.
If you could swap jobs with someone, who would it be and why?	I love my job. I think the grass is always greener on the other side so I wouldn't swap with anyone.
If you could choose anyone as a mentor, who would it be?	My Dad.
What’s your most memorable facepalm moment?	I couldn’t remember the Duke of York's name during my visit to St. James' Palace.
When was the last time you laughed so hard you cried?	Yesterday! I laugh a lot.
What’s your specialist subject?	Packaging materials.
If you could have a superpower, what would it be?	I would be able to stop time to get more work done.

What do you like...
Coffee or Tea?	Coffee
Favourite food?	Steak
Favourite Drink?	Red wine
Favourite Film?	Saving Private Ryan
Football team?	Liverpool
Favourite book?	'A Farewell to Arms' by Hemingway
Best place for a holiday?	It doesn’t matter. Any place with the right company is fine with me.
What’s your favourite line from a film?	‘I’ll be back'
What’s your guilty pleasure?	Ha ha! Good try, but some things are secret!
What was the last song you downloaded?	'Leave a Light on' by Tom Walker (acoustic)

Leadership Team

The Kanes Leadership Team is a balanced combination of long-serving Kanes experts and fresh faces who bring a wealth of experience from the wider world.

Steve Corby

CEO

About Steve

Steve joined Kanes Foods in July 2016, having previously spent 10 years at Cott Beverages, one of the largest soft drink manufacturers in the world, with a global turnover in excess of $2bn. Having initially served as UK Sales Director, Steve was MD of their European Business Unit during which time he was responsible for various acquisitions, taking Cott’s UK turnover from approximately £250m to circa £400m.

Steve’s career in UK FMCG spans over 25 years, during which time he has held leadership positions for both Northern Foods & Greencore, and sales positions in his early career at Benckiser, Nestle and United Biscuits.

Phil Jones

Finance Director

About Phil

Phil is a graduate in Mathematics from Oxford University. He has an outstanding record in delivering change and business improvement, playing key roles in numerous M&A activities. Phil was Group FD at Produce World for 5 years prior to Kanes.

Ian Schmid

Technical & Procurement Director

About Ian

A graduate in Food Science from Leeds University, Ian has worked in both Retail and Manufacturing sectors in a variety of Technical and Commercial Positions. Ian joined Kanes in 2016 and has responsibility for all aspects of the Technical and Procurement functions.

Andy Swarbrick

HR Director

About Andy

Andy started his career in Financial Services and has since worked for Cadburys, Kraft Foods, Molson Coors and Cott Beverages. He has extensive experience in change projects, Learning & Development and Engagement.

Jason Hall

Production Director

About Jason

Jason joined Kanes in 2017 as General Manager is now our Production Director. Previously worked for Warburton’s and Frank Roberts Bakery in various operational roles before heading up Health, Safety and Environment for his previous employer

Mark Fisher

Commercial Director

About Mark

Mark is a passionate leader of sales, marketing and product development functions with 20 years’ experience of the sector, well connected within grocery multiples, foodservice and discounter channels.

Martin Harlow

Supply Chain Director

About Martin

Responsible for Kanes logistics and supply chain function, Martin has over 28 years experience in food and drinks supply chain. He has held senior positions with Diageo, Heineken and SABMiller in the UK, Europe and the USA.

Martin is a graduate of the University of Birmingham

Kanes Foods

Cleeve Road,
Middle Littleton,
Nr Evesham,
Worcestershire,
WR11 8JS.

PHONE

01386 830471

EMAIL

reception@kanesfoods.co.uk

Home

Our Products

Meet the Team

Opportunities at Kanes