Musclefood appoints joint CEOs

Former musclefood commercial director Nick Preston and former Sofology chief finance officer and chief operating officer Mark Wasley have taken the helm at the company which has a manufacturing site in West Bromwich,

Since the pair took over in September last year sales are up, senior appointments have been made within the Nottingham-based company and an expansion of its central Manchester office is underway.

Future plans include extensive rebranding and significant investment in re-platforming the website, increased capacity on the operational side of the business and a strengthening of the tech team.

The pair have led from the front during the Covid19 pandemic ensuring priority deliveries to key workers and the vulnerable.

At the height of lockdown in March, musclefood delivered over 135,000 orders, selling 125,000kg of premium chicken breasts with website visits up to 2.3 million.

In the last two months (April/May) it has seen the volume of customers compared to the same time last year increase by 124 per cent with repeat customers up by 35 per cent.

Mr Preston was commercial director at musclefood for five years before taking up his new role within the business.

Prior to joining musclefood, he was founder and director at sports nutrition innovator Brand Nutrition who supplied and created products for musclefood including the popular protein pizza, fat free cheese and protein pancakes.

Mr Wasley brings 15 years of leading major UK brands to musclefood including Phones4U, the Shop Direct Group and Sofology where he was instrumental in its turnaround, growth and subsequent sale to competitor DFS.

More recently he has been involved in setting up his own online food retail business, Base Camp Food.

Mr Preston said: “The last two years have not been easy for musclefood. Competition has increased from other retailers, trading conditions have been tough and a couple of key appointments made by the business didn’t work out. When Mark and I stepped into the role in September it was clear we were faced with a team lacking motivation, direction and focus.

“After several years of phenomenal growth, for the first time in our history we found ourselves looking at a decline in sales. A direct result of bad decision making and a drastic move away from business as usual.

“The appointment of Mark and I as joint CEOs is about turning the business around and identifying what we need to do and where we need to go to take musclefood to the next level.

“Progress has been rapid. Within the first month we’d headlined the business vision plan for the next three years, stopped the spend culture and laid solid foundations needed to move the business forward at pace. We recognised the value of teams expertise already in musclefood, lifting morale and in areas across the business we felt needed strengthening, we hired best in class recruits.”

Wasley continued: “musclefood experienced massive growth during its first four years in business and what the team achieved during that time was incredible. Over the last two years the company has been through a huge transitional period.

“We’re now at the start of the journey of musclefood’s continued growth. We’re investing heavily in the website, improving its usability for customers and are creating a separate tech team based in Manchester. We’re already 24 strong in that office after just 12 months and have plans to increase the technology, e-commerce and digital marketing capability.

“We are also investing in our facility in West Bromwich to increase capacity and the volume of deliveries.”

The coronavirus pandemic has been a period of growth for musclefood. The agility within the business and the solidity of the supply chain meant they were able to fulfil demand and increase delivery slots when other retailers were struggling to get groceries out to customers.

Wasley added: “During the last three months the whole team has pulled together and has risen to the challenges the pandemic has bought. Our office-based staff were working from home before the lockdown was announced and we’re now phasing in a return for some teams to the two offices.

“Staff in the distribution centres and the two manufacturing sites in the Midlands have been working throughout with social distancing in place and all strict regulations adhered to.

“Interestingly what we have noticed is greater communication as a team during that period, excellent co-ordination and collaboration and of course, everyone has delivered over and above expectations.”

Preston concluded: “We’re now in a good position to take the business forward. Sales were up by 130% before lockdown hit and have risen since then. The management team we have and the expertise within it is undoubtedly one of the strongest in the industry.