Nestlé ice cream team to be culled

Richmond Foods, which recently announced its &£10m acquisition of Nestlé’s ice cream division, has confirmed considerable job losses among existing marketing staff.

Depending on the outcome of negotiations, as few as 30 of the 132 employees at the ice cream division sales and marketing office in York will be offered permanent posts.

Richmond has refused to comment on whether marketing director Catherine Diamond will keep her job.

The company stopped short of announcing a review of its advertising in advance of final shareholder approval of the takeover, but admitted it could be a “possibility.” JWT has held the work since Nestlé acquired its ice cream division in 1992.

A spokesman for Richmond Foods says: “The procedure being implemented is totally fair and transparent and where there are larger numbers of people available – which includes current Richmond employees – a pooling arrangement is being arranged.”