Henry is a Director and also Head of Operations for our two canning sites, Wisbech and Long Sutton – our largest food production site in the UK. He was previously Head of Operations for Bradford and Glasgow, where we make our soft drinks. Henry says:

I joined Princes in 2019 as a consultant on a short-term assignment in Bradford, which is home to our carbonated and diluted soft drinks production.

I was impressed with the business’ culture and work environment and its intention to be a world class employer of choice. With my business transformation skills, I felt I had a lot to bring to Princes.

During my three-plus years at our soft drinks sites in Bradford and Glasgow we brought in a new leadership team, developed talent in the business and reorganised the culture. We had some great results.

In November 2023, I was ready for a fresh role. Princes listened, gave me a new challenge and I moved across to our Canning operation in East Anglia. They wanted me to take what I’d implemented on the Drinks side of the business to drive consistencies with the Canning operation.

At Long Sutton in Lincolnshire and Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, we produce a range of canned products including baked beans, vegetables, soups, fruit, pulses, pasta, meatballs and sauces.

I’m responsible for 1,000 colleagues and the sites are 24/7 operations so that we can maximise capacity. They’re challenging sites as they involve complicated food production, a lot of automation and their geography makes recruitment tricky.

There are lots of similar challenges I’ve faced before, but new ones too which makes the role exciting because you have to create new ways of working, and develop new leadership teams, to get the strategic results to grow the business.

Long Sutton is a state-of-the-art 33-acre site and home to the Canning Excellence Programme. It’s a real jewel in the crown when it comes to British manufacturing. It’s here that we produce 528 million cans a year and 582 different products.

I really enjoy working for Princes and I feel that they listen to me and value my opinion. As a result, I’ve been given new challenges, which I absolutely thrive on, and I’ve got the opportunity to learn new things every day.

I’ve always been interested in the FMCG sector. My dad was high up in Unilever and also led a management buyout of an ice-cream business in Leeds. I’d trained as a chef when I was 18 and joined him in the ice-cream business for ten years, helping him to grow it. I was really proud when it floated on the London Stock Exchange.

My job takes me down to Lincolnshire in the week and back to Yorkshire at the weekend. Outside of work I still love to cook and my signature meal, you won’t be surprised to hear, is a good roast dinner with Yorkshire pudding.