A North Yorkshire-based online meat retailer has ceased trading and appointed administrators, with the majority of its 75 staff made redundant, after attempts to secure new funding proved unsuccessful.

Arvindar Jit Singh and Ben Jones of FRP were appointed as joint administrators to Farmison Ltd on Thursday 6 April 2023.

Farmison was a premium, online butchery business serving UK consumers, retailers and restaurants from its base in Ripon.

The business recently launched a fundraising process to secure external investment to support its business plan, but did not secure a sufficient level of interest.

Following a period of significant operational investment, Farmison had not generated the required level of revenues to sustain its high cost base.

In recent weeks, interest in the business and assets was explored but a transaction could not be completed, and the directors took the decision to place the company into administration.

Upon appointment, the business ceased to trade, with the majority of its 75 staff made redundant. A skeleton staff has been retained to support the joint administrators in fulfilling their duties as they move towards an asset sale, notably the brand, goodwill and intellectual property.

Arvindar Jit Singh, partner at FRP and joint administrator of Farmison Ltd, said: “Farmison had made significant investment in recent years in its operations as it aimed to carve out a differentiated brand and offering in the online retail space. However, it proved too heavy a burden to sustain without the uplift in sales that it had expected.

“Without a major capital injection, the business could not continue trading and we must now commence an asset sale.

“We encourage any interested parties to come forward. In the meantime, we have a specialist team working with impacted staff to access support through the Redundancy Payments Service.”