Convenience food supplier Tiffin Sandwiches is adding capacity with a new UK manufacturing site, a project that will create around 400 jobs.
Tiffin is building a factory in Bradford in the north of England, a city that currently houses its existing production and distribution facility, along with commercial offices.
The company, which supplies sandwiches, wraps, panini and salads to the hospitality sector, is ploughing £8-10m ($10.6m-13.3m) into the new plant, sitting alongside the current site in Commondale Way.
Tiffin also operates another manufacturing facility in Chester, north-west England.
Luke Tetley, Tiffin’s operations manager, told Just Food that the £8-10m investment will be channelled into building the new plant. The land has already been purchased at a cost of around £2.5m, while equipment outlays will potentially be around another £5m, he said.
The investment is in response to new business wins, Tetley said, adding the new plant will give the business capacity to grow in the future. He was reluctant to provide any capacity extension figures the facility will provide.
Tetley envisages the construction of the new factory will be completed this winter, with another 12-18 months to get fully up to speed.
Tiffin supplies schools, colleges and universities throughout the UK in the education sector, and also businesses, hotels, libraries and the travel industry in the wider economy. The company currently employs 600 staff, Tetley confirmed.
In the year to 31 May 2023, Tiffin generated a turnover of £35.9m, according to its accounts filed with Companies House in London, an increase of 27% over the previous 12 months.
Operating profit rose to £2.8m from £2.1m. Net profit, meanwhile, climbed almost 44% to £2.2m.
In the same category that Tiffin operates, Dublin-headquartered Greencore is one of the largest convenience food suppliers to the UK market, a business that also serves the food-to-go segment.
Under recently-installed CEO Dalton Philips, the private-label supplier is in the throes of building back the business from pandemic-related disruptions.
Headway was evident in Greencore’s half-way results issued in May under a new strategy introduced by Philips.
