Daniels Group, one of the UK’s leading chilled food manufacturers, is investing £8.5 million in a new food plant at Lakeside Road, Innovation Way, at Grimsby’s Europarc business centre.
The new production facility, which will create over 200 jobs, will open next month (March) and will produce a range of fresh and frozen foods for the UK and overseas.
In addition to making New Covent Garden soup, the UK’s best-selling chilled soup brand, the site will produce chilled ready meals for some of the UK’s leading supermarket groups and a new range of frozen soups for the catering sector.
Rob Burnett, Daniels Group Chief Executive, said the Grimsby site would play a ‘pivotal role’ in accelerating the growth of the £155 million turnover business.
“We chose Grimsby because the area boasts a skilled labour pool with experience of working in the chilled food industry. In addition, the Europarc centre is close to our extensive network of vegetable growers in Lincolnshire which will help to minimize food miles.
“This was an important consideration for us as we are committed to responsible environmental management in all aspects of our business.”
The Grimsby site will feature state of the art production processes and systems and will have a low carbon footprint.
“We are investing in the UK chilled food industry by increasing capacity and expanding the group’s capability to meet current and future demand for soup and ready meals. Our investment in Grimsby underlines the confidence we have in the future of this business in which the Europarc plant will play a major role,” added Rob Burnett.
The Daniels Group ready meal operations specialize in producing top quality meals with longer shelf life. Over the last 22 years, Daniels Group has established an excellent reputation in a unique 2 stage cook process that offers the very best quality meals with reduced wastage for customers. Their success has led to the need to increase capacity to meet customer demand.
Daniels Group has doubled its turnover in the last five years and operates six manufacturing sites throughout the UK. In addition to producing New Covent Garden fresh soup and supermarket-branded chilled ready meals, the company is the market leader fresh juice drinks. It also supplies branded and own label traditional puddings and freshly prepared fruit, supplying all sectors of the market in the UK and overseas.
The new factory is situated on a site previously run by Mariner Foods which closed in May 2008. The new Daniels site will open in March 2010.
New Covent Garden soup will continue to be produced at Daniels Group’s Peterborough site. With annual sales in excess of £60 million, New Covent Garden soup accounts for 45 per cent of all fresh soup sold in the UK.
In addition to Grimsby, production of Daniels Group chilled ready meals will continue at Consett, Co. Durham.
Daniels Group
Tel: 0113 2480770
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