Background 

Over the past three years, Noble Foods has reshaped its culture from siloed, hierarchical operations into one defined by shared purpose, inclusion and collaboration. After winning the 2024 Business Culture Award for Leading with Purpose, the business faced a new challenge: how to align this evolving culture with a series of acquisitions while preserving each site’s distinct identity. Between 2022 and 2025, Noble Foods integrated Killamarsh Feed Mill, Wot-a-Pullet, Leicester Added Value and Just Egg – each with its own history and ways of working. The goal was to connect these teams through shared purpose, not uniformity, creating a sense of belonging and cohesion across the group.

Approach 

The alignment journey was grounded in inclusion, visibility and co-creation. New teams were invited to shape what the Noble culture meant for them, ensuring early ownership of the change. Leaders prioritised listening and presence by visiting sites, understanding local pride points and addressing practical needs such as transition loans, enhanced benefits and consistent uniforms to build belonging.

Culture embedding focused on Noble’s TO CARE values (Together, Ownership, Courage, Action, Respect, Excellence). Each site explored how to live these values authentically in its own context, supported by cross-functional working groups tackling shared priorities such as safety and training. Colleague-led onboarding ensured new sites could co-author the “Welcome to Noble” story, blending heritage with the group’s future direction.

“By uniting new acquisitions and long-standing teams under one shared purpose, Noble Foods turned cultural alignment into commercial growth”

To strengthen connection across a dispersed workforce Noble launched My Noble, an internal communications hub. With more than 70% of colleagues non-desk-based, the platform became a vital tool for sharing stories, learning resources and onboarding materials, helping to unify teams across sites and functions.

Outcome

The approach delivered both cultural and commercial results. Colleague surveys showed rising participation and higher Leadership and Fair Deal scores across all sites. Individual sites all showed improvements. For example, the speed and level of success at which Leicester Added Value’s built new teams and embedded culture gave Noble Foods the confidence to purchase Just Egg.

Operationally, sites reported improved productivity, streamlined planning and greater collaboration. Wot-a-Pullet increased capacity and market share while Leicester stabilised turnover and accelerated innovation. These cultural and operational gains helped Noble Foods achieve 31% revenue growth, 70% profit growth, 45% debt reduction and a £2.4 million operating profit for the year, reversing a £6.3 million loss the year before.

Noble Foods has demonstrated that alignment is built on trust. By creating a shared culture people feel connected, valued and proud of what they achieve together.

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