55,000 Christmas puddings on order for expanding cake maker
Gills Puddings has expanded its operation in Market Drayton ahead of the crucial Christmas period, backed by £425,000 funding.
It plans to create 10 jobs in the next year and install a new production line to accommodate demand for more gluten free products and agreeing the financing with Barclays.
The business was established in 1996, and it now employs 26 staff making hand crafted desserts, puddings and pies.
Kim Smith, company director at Gills Puddings said: “We have built a solid reputation for the quality of our product through our innovative approach and commitment to meeting customer needs. We produce over 1,000,000 of high end desserts every year to local restaurants, pubs, golf clubs and supply desserts to a number of leading national restaurant chains.”
“The demand for gluten free products is rising year on year and we felt this the right time to create a gluten free bakery with no risk of cross contamination. We are one of the very few bakeries across the UK to offer such production guarantees and we anticipate the gluten free market to increase our turnover by as much as 25% next year.”
“We are now entering the busy festive period which accounts for as much as 30% of our annual turnover. We already have orders for 55,000 Christmas puddings. We still feel there is a massive opportunity in the local and domestic market and would encourage anyone to get in touch to sample our product offering.”
“The investment in the new units was a major investment in an uncertain Brexit economy with much uncertainty around futuer import costs and strength of sterling but we feel we have a great product regardless of the external factors and confidence in our business model.”
James Caddy, Barclays’ business banking manager added: “The business started at the family kitchen in Whitchurch will Gills passion for baking and now they have a successful business employing 26 people. The expansion is an endorsement of the highly successful business Kim and Gill have developed and we had no hesitation in delivering a finance solution to support the expansion.”
