The former CEO and co-owner of online retailer MuscleFood has said he’s ‘lost everything’ after the company was bought out of administration.
Nick Preston only returned to the helm of the Nottingham-based retailer in August 2025, when he acquired it alongside serial entrepreneur Ross Carlin, who is the founder and director of The Good Food Group.
After an initial bounce – with revenue up 37 per cent in the first week after the handover – the company went into administration following a range of issues, primarily a loss of confidence from a lender.
Chicken King
Yesterday, Eddie Devlin, the respected finance editor at The Grocer, reported that Ranjit Boparan – nicknamed the ‘Chicken King’ – had acquired MuscleFood out of administration.
He wrote: “Boparan Private Office (BPO), the private investment vehicle of the 2 Sisters Food Group owner, struck a deal with administrators at Mackay Goodwin to buy the business and assets of the DTC operator.
“Details on any job losses during the administration remain thin on the ground, but it is unlikely BPO took on all 90(ish) employees.
“Looks to be a smart move by Boparan given he’ll be able to plug in his substantial poultry supply chain into the online meat retailer and massively cut costs.
“However, there’ll be plenty of reputational damage to fix with customers following hundreds and hundreds of dreadful reviews on Trustpilot for Muscle Food in recent months. The business was plagued with delivery issues.”
Neither MuscleFood nor The Good Food Group has made any official statement.
However, Nick Preston broke his silence on LinkedIn and said he’s ‘lost everything’ but would ‘try and rebuild again’.
Preston, who was previously the CEO of MuscleFood between 2022-24, wrote: “Okay, so here we go again. I’m not going to talk about what happened with MuscleFood, yet.
“Quite simply I’m still processing everything. When I’m ready there’s a story to tell and they’ll be no hiding place for those I hold responsible.
“At the same time I’m moving back into the world of consulting. If anyone out there thinks I could add value to what they are doing, then hit me up for a chat.
“The last three weeks have been incredibly difficult. I could either stick my head in the sand or hold my head up and move on…I choose ‘move on’.”
In a series of replies to comments, Preston added: “It stings badly but for me what hurts is that there’s a lot of good people and businesses who have lost out here and that’s not right.
“I’ve lost everything but will try to rebuild again. I’m hoping for some they can do the same. Others I hope they feel the pain.”
Preston, whose LinkedIn profile reads ‘Nick is open to work’, said it was a ‘bitter pill to swallow’ to discover in the press that everything had changed ‘36 hours from funding’.
“It’s the team and suppliers who have lost out that hurts most,” he wrote, before adding in another comment: “I’ve certainly had better months. I just feel for the team we had and the suppliers whose lost money on this.”
Support
His LinkedIn post sparked a flurry of supportive messages, including one from Jonathan Whitfield, who wrote: “Thoughts and prayers with you Nick. Facing head on is the way forward. You’ll be back in no time.”
Preston replied: “It’s not me I’m bothered about. It’s the team we had and the suppliers who have lost money from what happened. That’s painful.”
According to MuscleFood’s accounts for the year to July 31, 2025, revenue dropped from £31.3m in 2024 to £22.98m in 2025, with ‘supply chain disruption and increased cost pressures’ being blamed.