Bakery expansion cooks up 100 jobs
A FAMILY bakery business has created 100 jobs after doubling its capacity after a £2m+ expansion.
Manchester-based GH Sheldon, which supplies Lancashire Oven Bottom Muffins and 30 other bakery products to a range of supermarket customers, received funding from The Co-operative Bank’s Lancashire corporate banking centre in Preston.
Sheldon, which was founded in a two-room terraced bakehouse in 1949, has bought and refurbished a building opposite its original site in Openshaw into a second bakery.
The investment has doubled the number of staff at the company to over 200, including new bakers, delivery drivers and office workers.
The company’s customers include Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Co-op, Morrisons and Aldi.
Three new production plants, including two giant travelling ovens, built especially for the company, have doubled the company’s output.
The site was bought in 2007 and underwent an extensive refurbishment including a complex gas and electrical fit-out.
Iso-coated walls and new flooring mean the whole of the interior can be regularly steam cleaned, and the new site achieved a British Retail Consortium Grade A maximum rating on its first food hygiene inspection earlier this year.
The business is now run by the founder, Harold Sheldon’s son, Graham and his wife Barbara. Their children Lee and Sarah also help run the business.
Managing director Graham Sheldon said: “We have worked hard to build our reputation over the last 50 years, and this expansion will ensure that we remain at the forefront of baking in this country for decades to come.
“Our new site has achieved the top food safety rating within weeks of opening, meaning we can push on with providing an even better service to our suppliers.
This expansion has been a long journey.”
Gerald Waterfield, senior corporate manager at The Co-operative Bank said: “Graham, his family, and all his colleagues have built a hugely successful business, and we wish them all the best with the new bakery in what we are sure will be a bright future.”
