KK FINE FOODS RAISES THOUSANDS FOR LOCAL CHARITY - GIDDO’S GIFT

In early 2019 our employees voted to support Giddo’s Gift as KK’s Charity of the Year. Giddo’s Gift is a local charity, set up in memory of Jordan Giddins, and aims to help improve the lives of teenagers and young adults suffering with cancer within Wales and North West England through gifts and grants.

Throughout 2019 our employees have taken part in numerous activities, including Tough Mudder, bingo nights, cake sales and raffles to raise a total of £5,500 for the charity. We are thrilled to announce that for 2020 KK employees have voted to continue to support Giddo’s Gift and we look forward to another year of raising money for such a worthy cause.

A spokesman for the charity said: “A huge thank you to everyone at KK Fine Foods Deeside, they chose us as their Charity of the year 2019 and have raised an incredible £5,500 through lots of fundraising events. I was thrilled to be told today that they have voted to support us again this year, especially when we went up against 4 other very worthy Charities. The local support we receive is overwhelming and enables us to help so many young people in Jordan’s Memory, he will certainly be smiling down on us tonight. Thank you all so very, very much.”

Samir Edwards, Managing Director of KK said: “Every one of our employees have been fully behind supporting Giddo’s Gift and we have all had lots of fun along the way, it’s been nice seeing how everyone has pulled together to raise funds for the charity. We look forward to supporting Giddo’s for the year ahead, hoping we can smash our previous year’s total of £5,500.”

KK PLANS MAJOR £5.5M EXPANSION

KK Fine Foods are expanding and diversifying its production facility to supply frozen ready meals in the retail sector, having specialised in the pub and restaurant sectors.

The expansion plans include upskilling the current workforce and creating 40 new jobs, as well as accommodating a research and development centre with the potential of increasing opportunities for Welsh suppliers.   

The Welsh Government is supporting the £5.5m expansion plans with £550,000 from the Economy Futures Fund.

Economy and North Wales Minister Ken Skates said: “The expansion plans by KK Fine Foods is great news for Deeside and the industry as a whole in the North Wales region.  They are an established company here and it’s good to see how they are keen to innovate and expand. I’m pleased the Welsh Government is supporting the expansion and I look forward to seeing the company go from strength to strength as it reaches out into the retail sector.”

Samir Edwards, managing director at KK Fine Foods, added: "The continued support from the Welsh Government is very important during this exciting time of growth for KK. This latest expansion will enable KK to meet growing demand from new and existing customers, whilst creating over 40 new jobs for the local area. In addition to this, it will allow KK to have a continued focus on investing in our employees, through training and up-skilling our workforce. As this funding will aid the growth of our business, it will also assist in the growth of those businesses who supply KK, many of which are also located in Wales."

KK FINE FOODS ‘GREEN TEAM’ VOLUNTEERS GO LITTER PICKING

At KK Fine Foods, we measure the success of our business not just in economic terns but also in environmental and social aspects. KK Fine Foods is passionate about reducing its impact on the environment through improving energy performance, carbon footprint, waste management, plastic reduction and recycling on site. KK has an environmental ‘Green Team’ consisting of staff from across different departments who have received specific training and are responsible for ensuring we meet our environmental targets.

Following an intensive three day audit KK was awarded the Green Dragon Environmental Standard, gaining Level 4 certification in June 2019. Green Dragon is an environmental standard that is awarded to organisations that are taking action to understand, monitor and control their impacts on the environment. As part of our Environmental Green Dragon certification, we have committed to reducing our impact on the environment. Our ‘Green Team’ took part a littler picking event around Zone 3 on Deeside Industrial Park on Friday 20th September. This event was planned in conjunction with Flintshire Council as part of the THE BIG DEE DAY campaign encouraging local companies to be proactive to help the local environment.

The Big Dee Day is one of the biggest community and conservation based events in North East Wales and North West England and has been a well-established, annual event since 2007. Covering the coastline and tributaries from Talacre to Chester and Llangollen and north Shropshire the Big Dee Day is not just a large scale litter pick it’s so much more. It is estimated more than 12 million tons of plastic, from bottles and bags to microbeads end up in our oceans every year (greenpeace.org.uk) and the River Dee, its estuary, river banks and marshes have the potential to capture a significant amount of plastic. In Flintshire hundreds of people take part every year working hard to clear rubbish from the river embankments and beaches collecting hundreds of bags of litter as well as sprucing up the special places along the River Dee’s banks, coast and catchment area.

We are proud to be part of this fantastic scheme which has such a positive impact on our local area and beyond. Thank you to all our Green Team volunteers for taking part - lots of litter and plastic collected!