Enter the world of Love Joes – where chicken is king and flavor knows no bounds
From juicy marinades to crispy coatings, chicken is everything at Love Joes. Founded by husband-and-wife team, Joe and Doulla Koumi, back in 1994, Love Joes provides delicious chicken products and food production solutions to the UK food industry’s biggest names. Boasting a 30-year legacy, the company is renowned for delivering quality and flavor by the truckload, completing around 2000 deliveries every week to a wide scope of industry sectors. All its marinated chicken is British Red Tractor certified, available in a variety of different cuts and flavor profiles. With over 15 bold and exciting flavor profiles to choose from, marinated or coated, Love Joes’ recipes blend classic favorites, such as BBQ and Tikka, with innovative twists that keep menus fresh and tastebuds tingling. Whilst chicken products sit at its core, Love Joes also offers an array of breads, curry sauces, sides, and vegetarian delights, and with Halal and gluten-free options available, the company promises a tasty solution for every palette. 
“We started Love Joes as a husband-and-wife team in the early 1990s with a simple but bold idea: to bring healthier, flavor-packed chicken to everyday menus,” begins Joe Koumi, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Love Joes. “Our very first Mediterranean Chicken marinade became such a hit that demand quickly grew beyond what we could supply locally. That push from customers gave us the confidence to launch Chicken Joes, eventually rebranding as Love Joes as our range expanded beyond chicken alone.”
“From marinating chicken in a garage to supplying some of the UK’s best-known caterers, it’s been a journey of steady growth,” Doulla Koumi, Co-Founder and Managing Director, continues. “Over the past three decades we’ve evolved from a small family business into a trusted foodservice partner. Along the way, we’ve invested in larger facilities, refrigerated logistics, automation, and digital systems, all with one aim: to help caterers serve consistent, flavorful, and reliable dishes. Our focus has always been on making kitchens stress-free and menus exciting. What sets us apart isn’t just the product, but how we work. We see ourselves as an extension of our customers’ catering teams, offering flexibility, collaboration, and care. Their success is our success.”
Enhancing operational efficiency
Though Love Joes’ passion for delicious food, exceptional service and operational excellence has remained consistent throughout its journey, the company strives for continuous improvement. In alignment with this commitment, Love Joes has reinvested significantly into the business, keeping it ahead of the curve with cutting-edge technologies and innovations. Most recently, the company has invested in an automated skewer machine and a new ERP system (set to come into place in 2026) – both implemented to further enhance its operational efficiency and extend its products and services to an even greater customer base.
Joe elaborates: “We’re currently investing in automation with a new skewer machine. Until now, every skewer has been handmade. Hitting the sales milestone that justified this investment was a proud moment; it shows just how far our demand has grown. Automating will increase consistency, boost efficiency, and future-proof capacity for at least five years. Most importantly, it helps us scale whilst ensuring that our customers get the same high-quality product every time.”
“Our new ERP system, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, will be the cornerstone of our digital transformation. For years, fragmented systems slowed us down. Now, we’re unifying finance, manufacturing, logistics, and customer management into one platform, giving us real-time visibility and traceability,” Yianno Koumi, Head of Business Information, adds. “For customers, this means faster, more accurate service. For our team, it frees time to focus on innovation instead of admin. Alongside ERP, we’re embedding Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) to digitize production lines, improving efficiency and quality. These investments allow us to scale responsibly while staying agile and customer focused.”
Thanks to such investments, Love Joes has been able to expand and flourish, but its innovation doesn’t end there. To provide the very best products for its customers and partners, the company places great emphasis on its research and development processes. The outcomes? Always tasty.
“Innovation drives our growth. We combine insights from trend reports, blending houses, and our own food safaris to anticipate what’s next. We test bold ideas through limited time offers, like our Texas BBQ marinade, before rolling out successful products widely,” Nick Daniels, Head of Food Innovations and Strategic Partnerships, explains. “Ultimately, our approach is about balance: bold flavors and fresh ideas but always guided by what our customers and their diners really want.”
People and partnerships
Of course, this product development wouldn’t be possible without a robust supply chain. Love Joes prides itself on nurturing strong, closely collaborative supplier relationships to ensure that its high standards of quality, sustainability and ethics are maintained throughout the entirety of its network.
“Every supplier is rigorously vetted through self-assessment, evidence checks, and, where appropriate, physical audits,” Antonis Cola, Quality Manager, affirms. “Approval is not a one-off; we repeat audits annually to ensure continued compliance. This process gives us full confidence that every product meets the ethical and quality standards our customers demand.”
By upholding the highest standards of care and integrity – from its product development right through to the relationships it holds with its customers, partners, and own people – it’s clear that Love Joes is well-positioned for a bright future. Whilst it progresses further on its ambitious growth trajectory, the much-loved brand will proceed to push the boundaries of culinary excellence, continuing to prove why it remains the trusted kitchen partner of choice to over 2500 customers across the UK.
“Our long-term vision is bold: to own the marinated chicken category in the UK. This is where we began, it’s what we know best, and it’s where we see the greatest opportunity to lead. We want Love Joes to be synonymous with quality, trust, and innovation, so when chefs think marinated chicken, we’re the first call,” Joe concludes, optimistic for the years ahead. “This isn’t just growth in numbers – it’s about building a legacy, a business our children and future generations can be proud to inherit, and a brand that defines the future of sustainable, high-quality foodservice in the UK.”