A Scottish food supplier has entered liquidation after 35 years in business, resulting in 71 redundancies. Enterprise Foods Limited, based in East Kilbride and trading as Localist, has ceased operations after attempts to refinance and restructure the business were unsuccessful.
The company supplied a range of products to retailers across Scotland and supported local suppliers, producers, and farmers in accessing retail markets. Liquidators were appointed following a court petition, with George Lafferty of BTG named as provisional liquidator.
The business had been facing cash flow pressures over several years, linked to bad debts following customer failures and ongoing challenges in the retail and hospitality sectors. The company had debts exceeding £5 million.
Thomas McKay, managing partner of BTG in Scotland and Northern Ireland, said efforts had been made to stabilise the company. "The directors had made efforts to restructure the debt of the company in order to save the business and rescue the jobs, and the loss of the jobs was sadly inevitable when this was not successful," he said.
The closure is expected to affect the supply chain, with smaller suppliers owed money and facing the loss of a route to market. "There are many small suppliers to the business that are owed money, and the loss of this route to market will also have a serious knock-on effect on these food producers as well," McKay said.
Liquidators are assessing claims and working to realise remaining assets to repay creditors. "We are working to assess all claims and establish whether there will be any dividend paid to unsecured creditors. But it is not likely to be significant, given the level of secured debts in the business," he added.
Support is being provided to affected employees through redundancy services and government-backed programmes.
The case reflects wider conditions in the UK food and drink supply chain, where businesses continue to face cost pressures, limited margins, and changing market conditions across retail and foodservice channels.
