Findus brand 'set to disappear'

THE Findus frozen food brand in Britain looks set to disappear after almost 60 years. The once Grimsby based company was famous for an entire range of products, ranging from fish fingers to crispy pancakes
Young’s Seafood, which still holds the name in the UK, is reported to be ready to drop Findus while keeping some of its most popular products, but relaunching them with new names.
So far, Young’s has refused to comment on the reports carried by several newspapers. But it is not denying them either.
The plan is that Findus Crispy Pancakes will be replaced by a like-for-like product under the new Original Pancake Co brand and the rest of the Findus frozen meals range will be relaunched under a separate Chef’s Classics brand.
The Findus brand on the Continent was hived off and sold last year to Nomad Foods of America, which also owns Birds Eye/Iglo, in multi-million pound deals.
Findus, with its deep orange/red and white flag symbol, has been a family favourite food brand rivalling the likes of Birds Eye since 1958. But in 2013 it was caught up in the horsemeat scandal with its lasagne dish and is thought to have suffered as a result.
Findus has Swedish roots; the name is short for Fruit Industries, a throwback to the days when it produced tinned jam and fruit.
After the war it branched into frozen fish in its home country before coming to Britain, where it built a fish factory in Grimsby.
In 1960 a young Swedish research scientist called Sven Ove Lindgren landed in Grimsby with a £50,000 cheque in his back pocket and the instruction to build a fish factory on the Humber. That same plant is still in production today but under the ownership of Young’s Seafood.
At one time Findus employed more than 1,000 people in the Grimsby area which was also the launch pad for seafood products and family favourites such as the crispy pancake.
Findus pulled out of Grimsby in the 1980s, moving to the North East.