A food business based in Nidderdale has gone into voluntary liquidation owing more than £1 million.
Mackenzies Smoked Products Ltd appointed Clark Business Recovery last week to oversee its liquidation.
Papers filed with Companies House reveal it owed £1,025,690.40 to 156 other companies. Among its debts is almost £45,000 to HMRC for VAT, PAYE and National Insurance contributions.
The sole director, Paul James Palmer, was appointed in October 2019, when he and wife Gabby took over the Blubberhouses company from Robert and Stella Crowson, who founded it in 1999.
As well as a smokehouse, Mackenzies runs a farm shop and cafe, both of which remained open today.
In documents filed as part of the liquidation process, Mr Palmer reserves the right for MFS&C Limited to use the trading names of Mackenzies, Mackenzies Farm Shop, and Mackenzies Farm Shop and Cafe.
MFS&C Limited was set up by Gabby Palmer in November last year and she remains its sole director.
The rights to the trading names of the Yorkshire Smokehouse, the Yorkshire Smokehouse at Mackenzies, Mackenzies Smokehouse and Mackenzies Smoked Products are reserved for use by Yorkshire Speciality Foods Limited, set up by an Andrew Robert Butler in September 2022.
Mr Palmer is a former director of Bleikers Smokehouse, which was founded by his wife’s father, Jurg Bleiker, who left the business in 2006. Mr Palmer resigned from Bleikers in 2019.
Mackenzies opened a coffee shop on Cardale Park last spring, but it has since closed and been replaced by a separate venture.
The Stray Ferret contacted Mackenzies and Clark Business Recovery about the liquidation but was told nobody was able to give any further information.
Read more:
- Companies ‘unlikely’ to receive pay-out from Bleikers Smoke House, say administrators
- Business Breakfast: New café opens on Harrogate’s Cardale Park
Bleikers, which fell into administration last May, is under investigation by the National Food Crime Unit. In an update issued last month, investigators said:
“The National Food Crime Unit continue to investigate the former Bleiker’s Smokehouse in Leeming, North Yorkshire.
“To date, four people have been interviewed under caution and enquiries around the former Bleiker’s Smokehouse business practices continue.
“Thanks to the North Yorkshire police for their support during the investigation.”
The company’s administrator, FRP Advisory, last posted an update in December. It indicated the company’s assets, including stock and machinery, had been sold.
