Pet food boss praises workforce after selling up

Pet food boss praises workforce after selling up A PET food boss moving on to pastures new has praised the quality of his former South Tyneside workforce. " . "All of the staff were offered alternative employment with Medicanimal, but only two people relocated. "But thankfully, most of the former workforce has found employment. The business, based at Aidan Court, Bede Industrial Estate, Jarrow, rapidly grew into an internationally successful enterprise, enjoying sales of £500,000 in its first year, before eventually boosting sales to £10m and selling pet food products to dozens of countries. uk, to Medicanimal, of London, with the Jarrow unit closing in March. But while looking forward, Mr Berriman also paid tribute to some of the 30 staff employed by his Jarrow-based pet supplier. He said: "Announcing to our staff that I was selling the business on was one of the hardest things I've ever done. "But despite knowing the business was closing along with their jobs were going, my staff still gave 150 per cent. But personal issues eventually persuaded Mr Berriman, 32, of Westoe, South Shields, to sell Viverdi, the holding company for Petsupermarket. "We had a very close-knit group of people at the company, and they knew why I was selling on, but making that decision was still hard. Now he is planning to launch a whole new software development business, called Gozuku, with business partner Mike Halford. He added: "The new business is really still in the melting pot, but I would hope to get it off the ground by autumn of this year. Mr Berriman, a married man with two children, is now looking for the very best development site for Gozuku. "We are looking at where the unit could be based, and will commence small, in terms of jobs, before expanding. Pet food boss praises workforce after selling up Trade News selected by Local Linkup on 13/05/2012