Ex-gaming producer invests £350,000 in gluten-free venture

GLUTEN-FREE food brand Delicious Alchemy is riding on the wave of popular healthy eating, seeing orders increase and investing £350k in facilities to keep up with demand.

14 new staff have been recruited to increase production capacity at its new Sheffield factory after orders grew 40% in the last year.

Delicious Alchemy will be able to increase capacity 33% following the investment, with more room to maneuver later on as it increases its range of gluten and dairy-free products.

Founder Emma Killilea launched the business in 2006 after seeing a gap in the market for natural gluten-free products, which have now taken off with demand soaring across the UK.

She had previously worked as a computer game producer, owning Firewall Games Services, and working at Electronic Arts.

However in a surprising turn of events, she quit her job in 2004 to return to Sheffield Hallam University studying food science, and won an Enterprise Award for her Delicious Alchemy business plan while she was there.

In 2008 she became a board member of Creative Sheffield.

After launching the business and taking on staff, the firm moved into Canada House Sheffield.

Ms Killilea said: “We were reaching the limit on capacity – our orders increased by 40 per cent last year and we’re expecting similar growth this year – so a new factory was a must. It will enable us to increase production and meet the needs of customers, as well as giving us the flexibility for future growth.

“Our new factory also gives us control of every aspect of our operation, which is hugely important in the gluten-free market. We have to ensure all our products are gluten-free, so to be able to manage the whole production process in the factory simplifies things greatly.”