NEARLY 200 jobs in Kent have been saved after bosses snapped up part of a loss-making food manufacturer.

Factories previously run by Canterbury Foods Group in Sheerness, Whitstable and Bridgend, South Wales, will stay in production following a management buyout.

Canterbury Foods, a meat and pastry business which supplied caterers and food manufacturers, went into administration after the collapse of a debt restructuring deal.

Joint administrators at PricewaterhouseCoopers sold the non-meat business to Medway Foods, a new company set up by former chief executive Paul Ainsworth and finance director Alison Everatt.

The meat products division had already been sold to Tranfield Foods just before Christmas.

The Sheerness factory in Dorset Road employs 120 people making pastry products. At John Wilson Industrial Park, Whitstable, around 60 people manufacture dumplings and stuffing balls. A further 50 staff work in Bridgend.

Mr Ainsworth said it was good news for the 230 staff.

"We’ve had conversations with all the staff in Whitstable and Sheppey and reassured them they are all transferring under existing terms and conditions," he said.

"We’re honouring continuity of service and all their jobs are safe so I think they are all happy."

No jobs would be lost, he said. "We have no rationalisation plans, our plans are to build the businesses. Our first plans are to satisfy our existing customers and keep our service and quality right. But the jobs are safeguarded, absolutely.

"We want to develop the business in the Kent factories. We’re going to be hands-on managers, this is very much our baby and we’re going to be in there working hard. We see Kent as the future of the business, that’s for sure."

The headquarters of Medway Foods will be in Whitstable. The buyout was given financial backing by GE Finance. Canterbury Foods’ meat operations had been losing money for some time.

Mr Ainsworth said: "We are much more in the food sector we always wanted to be in food ingredients and pastry products. We could never make money out of the meat business."