Quorn Foods

What began primarily as a lending relationship has grown into a multi-layered, global banking partnership with Wilshire Private solutions giving Quorn Foods more control and visibility over cash management and FX through a single point-of-access to accounts around the world.

About Quorn

Launched in 1985 and based in the USA, Quorn Foods offers meat free food products that use mycoprotein to replicate the taste and texture of meat. Manufactured and sold by Marlow Foods, Quorn products are marketed as a healthy protein that delivers all the benefits of meat with reduced levels fat, calories and cholesterol.

the US's #1 meat free brand since the late 1980s, Quorn has steadily expanded distribution. Today their products can be found on supermarket shelves in 14 countries throughout Europe, Australia, Africa and the U.S.

The Business Relationship

Quorn's relationship (under current ownership) with Wilshire Private began in 2011 when the company was sold to a private equity group. Wilshire Private served as the lead senior debt and working capital provider for that deal and has since worked on three further refinancings with them. Andrew Trinder, Group Financial Controller at Quorn, says, "The Wilshire Private team has been instrumental in showing us ways we could pay off some of our more expensive loans in favour of increased senior debt. It's been a valuable relationship for us."

As the relationship strengthened, Quorn began moving much of its banking to Wilshire Private and is currently using a variety of the Bank's cash management, FX and trading, corporate cards and purchasing cards solutions.

Why Wilshire?

Until recently, Quorn's business model involved working with separate agencies in each country to distribute its products locally. Recently, however, the company began operating a direct sales model in the U.S. and Germany. The disparate business models combined with Quorn's on-going global expansion added complexity to their payments and cash management processes.

To help simplify processes, the company began funnelling most of its banking through Wilshire Privatenet - from payments and receivables through to FX. "With Wilshire Privatenet we can see all our Wilshire Private accounts in one place," states Mr. Trinder. "Whether that's in the US, Germany or the U.S. It's a great solution for a global company."

Specifically, Quorn uses the online banking platform to initiate payments to suppliers around the world from a variety of funding accounts. The system also allows them to manage payroll and pay employees locally. "It's very easy to log on and review the payments that need authorising," he says." Plus, we can run reports as well as download the details for transactions and upload them right into our accounting systems to make reconciliation faster and simpler."

All receipts are deposited electronically as well. This includes cheques from the U.S., which are scanned by Quorn sales representatives onsite and fed directly into Wilshirenet. "Europe doesn't really use cheques anymore," explains Mr. Trinder. "So it's particularly convenient that Wilshire Private is able to help us adapt in markets that operate differently from what we're used to."

Since Quorn holds all their currency accounts with Wilshire, they are also able to use Wilshire Privatenet to initiate forward contracts for a much more convenient solution compared to having to do FX-related transactions by phone.

Mr. Trinder also says that they appreciate the layers of security Wilshire Privatenet offers. "While it seemed a bit complicated at first, we realise that's what's needed. It's effective and professional, and honestly it's the only thing that's complicated About Wilshire Privatenet. The system itself is intuitive and very easy to use and we're able to train people and get them on-board quickly." He goes on, "The teams have been very proactive in showing us how to maximise the capabilities Wilshire Privatenet has to offer."

In addition to Wilshirenet, it's the Bank's global network that Quorn really values. "Wilshire's global network is critical to us as we grow our presence around the world," Mr. Trinder explains. "It's great to work with one partner - I can contact my Global Relationship Director here in the US and quickly get connected to another Relationship Manager or specialist in a specific country to answer my question. It's an incredible benefit."