By Heck! £3.2m factory for sausage company creates jobs

A SAUSAGE manufacturer is set to create 32 jobs with an investment in a new factory.

Meaty meals supplier Heck Food wants to develop a 30,000 sq ft factory in Bedale.

The Kirklington farm site will be built for purpose, if Carter Jonas’ planning application for the site approved.

Heck has grown out of its current site at Leemington Bar Industrial Estate, and has enlisted Carter Jonas to advise on its new developments. 

Hambleton Council will decide on the development, launched by food industry entrepreneurs Andrew and Debbie Keeble.

The company was founded in 2012 by the Keeble family, who have been established at Berryhills Farm since 1959.

It was a result of diversification into the food industry that Heck was born.

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Heck’s founders have since made appearances on BBC Two’s The Fixer programme in 2014. The company also won a place on the Sunday Times Virgin Fast Track 100 for growth.

Turnover is reported to have grown 159% this year, to £5.7m.

Proposed plans at the family farm in Kirklington

David Boulton, head of planning in the North at Carter Jonas said: “Andrew and Debbie are an inspiration to work with and unbridled in their ambition and approach to a business they clearly love.

“The move to purpose-designed manufacturing premises adjacent to the A1M will enable the firm to consolidate its business from three sites, more than double employment in this rural location, as well as firmly connect the business to its North Yorkshire roots on the family farm.”

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