“It is with great sadness that we confirm the passing away of Chris Harrison, our great friend and colleague on Saturday, 16th January after contracting coronavirus. As founding director of Deemak International, Chris played a pivotal role in the development of our business, developing the procurement and supply chain for MVH Group’s product range from Asia, in particular, Thailand and we are all devastated at his loss.”

Chris Harrison Testimony
The youngest of six children, Chris grew up on a small 40-acre family farm in Cheshire. Initially trained as a schoolteacher, on graduating in 1973, Chris was encouraged to join the family business and was involved in all aspects of its subsequent growth, later becoming Managing Director of the family run business Harrisons (Poultry) Limited.

Under Chris’s leadership, Harrisons Poultry went from strength to strength, becoming a fully integrated sole supplier of poussin to all UK major retailers and many European supermarkets throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s, supplying 90% of the UK poussin market & driving rapid development into Europe. In 1988, Chris’s efforts were recognised with the prestigious Poultry Industry Marketing Award.

Chris’s experience in animal husbandry and the pains and pleasures of transforming a small poultry farm into a retail business evolved. In 2004 Chris set up Deemak International, in the position of Managing Director, Chris managed the procurement and supply chain for the MVH Group’s product range from Asia, in particular, Thailand. In the same year, Chris joined a trade mission to Thailand on behalf of Meadowvale Foods to explore the farming and agriculture poultry business.

Chris had a keen interest and knowledge of breeders & broiler performance and expanded this knowledge from a British farming background to understand Thai broiler farming in depth from farm to fork.

Over subsequent years Chris worked closely with many independent Thai Broiler Companies, building further processing cooking plants and in 2006 the Deemak International office in Thailand was opened. Chris was instrumental in the management of the Deemak International business and offices in Bangkok, Thailand.

A member of the British Chamber of Commerce, Thailand & a true ambassador of business development within Asian, Chris built a strong, experienced team in Thailand & the UK, of which he was rightly immensely proud.

Chris will be fondly remembered and sorely missed by all his friends and colleagues at Meadowvale Foods and Deemak International together with the wider business community and poultry industry in Thailand & the UK.

Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this tragic time.

Nigel O’Donnell,
Director, Deemak International Limited.
Managing Director, Meadow Vale Foods.