Expansion on the menu for food manufacturer

A FOOD manufacturing company is moving into new premises nearly six times larger than its existing base.

Rupert’s Recipes will start re-locating to a new factory on Fields End Business Park in Goldthorpe this month. The move to the 20,000 sq ft building has been prompted by growing demand for its bespoke products, it said.

Rupert’s Recipes, which has been based in 3,000 sq ft premises at Zenith Business Park in Barugh Green, Barnsley since 2012, produces a range of flour-based coatings for chicken and fish as well as marinades and seasonings.

Its customers include major food production brands and wholesale suppliers to the restaurant and fast-food industry. Rupert’s Recipes’ turnover has almost doubled every year since it was established in 2010.

The relocation has been supported by Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council, a partner in the South Yorkshire Sector Growth Enhancement Programme (SYSGEP).

Managing director Iftikhar Azam said: “Now is an excellent time for us to move into larger premises so that we can upscale our production to meet our existing and potential customers’ requirements.

“We have never lost a customer because we are responsive to their different needs. We aim to deliver on taste, price and service. I think, that is why, as a small independent production company, we have grown so fast in the market against much larger competition. We now want the capacity to do more to the same high standard.”

The move to larger premises will enable Rupert’s Recipes to blend three times as much product a week. The company has invested £250,000 in new production line and packaging machinery and plans to create ten new jobs during 2015. It currently employs five people.

Azam expects the increase in capacity will see the company’s turnover double again to £1m by the end of next year.

Rupert’s Recipes already exports to France, Italy, Kenya, India and Pakistan.

Barnsley’s SYSGEP sector growth manager Adrian Waite said: “Rupert’s Recipes has seen excellent growth in its first five years of trading and is now investing in expansion which will give it the extra capacity it needs to triple productivity levels and develop new products. We are delighted that they have grown their business in Barnsley and look forward to seeing the workforce expand in the next 12 months.”