S&A Foods site bought by food giant 2 Sisters

2 Sisters is behind the Goodfella's pizza and Fox's biscuit brands

The food giant that makes Fox's biscuits and Goodfella's pizzas has bought the former site of a Derby ready meals manufacturer.

S&A Foods, which specialised in Asian ready meals, went into administration in October with all 300 workers being made redundant.

The site's new owner, 2 Sisters Food Group, said it will hold a number of recruitment days over the coming weeks.

2 Sisters was founded in West Bromwich in 1993.

It now employs more than 23,000 people at sites across the UK, Ireland, Poland and the Netherlands.

2 Sisters was founded in West Bromwich but now has sites across the UK, Ireland, Poland and the Netherlands

Nick Murray, its head of communications, said the transaction to purchase the site on Sir Francis Ley Industrial Estate was completed on Friday.

"The 2 Sisters team is actively working up plans to develop the site and will be looking to engage with the local workforce through a number of recruitment days over the coming weeks," he said.

The company has not said what kind of food will be made at the site.

"We've had the keys for one day. It is far far too early to give any details at the moment," said Mr Murray.

The founder of S&A Foods, Perween Warsi, has previously appeared as a panellist on the BBC show The Apprentice

S&A Foods was founded by Perween Warsi CBE, who named it after the initials of her sons Sadiq and Abid.

Its biggest contract was supplying ready meals to Asda, and Mrs Warsi blamed the end of this contract for the company's collapse.

Councillor Lisa Eldret, cabinet member for jobs and fair employment at Derby City Council, said the sale of the site was "really positive news".

"Obviously it could be a great early Christmas present for those workers who unfortunately lost their jobs back in October and we hope that production will be able to restart as soon as possible on the site," she said.

"Also, with 2 Sisters being such a large company with the capacity potentially to increase production here we could see increased numbers of workers and more jobs here on this site."

The council is meeting the company at the end of the week and will encourage it to employ former workers of S&A Foods who have not yet found jobs.

Councillor Lisa Eldret hopes production at the former S&A Foods site will restart as soon as possible