Whitby Seafoods, located in the beautiful North Yorkshire seaside town of Whitby, was the location for the latest Young Leaders’ Forum (YLF) site visit. The day started with a scenic drive through the North York Moors, heading down into the town with stunning views of Whitby Abbey in the distance, commutes to work don’t get much better than that!

Jessie Richmond, Trade Marketing Manager and BFFF YLF member kicked off the visit with a presentation outlining the history of Whitby Seafood and the amazing work they do.

Do you know what scampi is made from? Well, for those of you who don’t, it’s a langoustine (Nephrops Norvegicus), which is a small lobster, not a fish like some people may think!

The young leaders heard about the current challenges the business faces around sourcing langoustines, such as the rising fuel costs and labour issues.

The group were also told about Whitby Seafood’s social enterprise, the Seafood Social café. The café works in partnership with the Rainbow Centre, a Scarborough-based initiative that aims to tackle homelessness and the issues that can lead to homelessness.

Not only does the café serve top-notch seafood, but it also provides employment and skill-building opportunities for the local community. Customers are also given the option to ‘pay it forward’ by adding a contribution to their bill. So far, the café has been able to donate over £14,000 to The Rainbow Centre.

Following on from the presentation, the young leaders had a fascinating tour of Whitby Seafoods high-tech processing facilities and returned to the meeting room to be welcomed by the most magnificent feast of Whitby Seafood products for lunch, from Wholetail scampi in its delicious golden crumb, gluten free scampi, calamari, bubble bobble red shrimp and so much more!

YLF member, Fiona Robertson from Fareshare, said “It’s great to take part in the British Frozen Food Federation’s Young Leaders Forum. I really enjoyed visiting Whitby Seafoods to learn about their manufacturing processes as well as the amazing work they do with their local community. We’re very grateful for their support through donations of frozen surplus food.”

A huge thank you to everyone at Whitby Seafoods who was involved in hosting a really insightful day.

If you are a BFFF member and aged 18 – (circa) 30 and interested to join the YLF or find out more, please contact Holly (hollyjones@bfff.co.uk).