Prepared veg and dressed salad specialist Troy Foods hasopened a fourth site in West Yorkshire thanks to funding from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF).
Supported by a £500,000 investment from NPIF – Mercia Debt Finance, which is managed by Mercia and is part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF), the new facility is expected to create more than 20 new jobs.
The 30,000sq ft site, which is now fully operational, is located in Lofthouse, Wakefield. It will produce freshly prepared ready-to-eat vegetables, such as carrot batons and herby potatoes, for the retail and foodservice sectors.
The ready-to-eat range is an extension of Troy Foods’ existing offering which comprises prepared vegetables for use in ready meals, plus dressed salads and mayonnaise.
The fourth-generation family company’s latest BRCGS (British Retail Consortium Global Standards) approved site features a processing plant with separate high-care areas as well as refrigerated storage facilities.
It has the capacity to process 1,000 tonnes of vegetables a week, the equivalent of 700,000 retail packs per week.
The Wakefield site complements Troy Foods’ two Leeds sites for prepared vegetables and dressed salads and mayonnaise production, plus its nearby head office and distribution hub.
Troy Foods’ MD James Kempley said the investment “marks another key step in our ambitious five-year vision for Troy Foods to be the largest prepared vegetable produce supplier across all sectors, including B2B, ready-to-eat, foodservice and retail.”
He added: “The addition of a fourth site in the region increases our capacity, enabling us to offer customers an even greater choice of prepared vegetables with the introduction of ready-to-eat lines.
“The support of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund through this new development has been outstanding, and we look forward to working with them again as we continue to grow the business, creating jobs and helping build the regional economy.”
Mark Wilcockson, senior manager at British Business Bank, said: “The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund seeks to boost growth in businesses across the region with finance to support new jobs and expansion.
“Funding such as this highlights the important role of external finance, helping local businesses to fulfill their growth ambitions. We would encourage other businesses seeking to grow to see what funding support is available from NPIF.”
The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund project is supported financially by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank.
Established in 1921 by John Kempley Senior as a potato merchants, Troy Foods now employs 400 people across its four Yorkshire sites and supplies a selection of prepared vegetables for ready meals and retail packs in leading supermarkets.
In recent years, it diversified into processing value-added lines such as dressed salads (including coleslaw, potato salads, pasta salads and dips), as well as mayonnaise and dressings for retailers and foodservice groups.
