Listed Business: Cranswick takes home the bacon

FOOD producer Cranswick shone last night as it was rewarded for its outstanding performance picking up the Listed Business award, sponsored by Brewin Dolphin.

Launched in 1972 and employing more than 7,000 people, of which 3,000 are in Yorkshire, the Hull-based business has a long record of increasing sales and profit.

Current turnover is around £994m, with +13.7% year on year growth.

This continued growth, 16% since 2011 alone, has been driven by Cranswick’s continued focus and pursuit of excellence on premium quality food products, supplied from efficient, modern and well invested facilities.

Over the past five years alone, £125m has been invested to improve and expand the primary processing, sausage, cooked meats and bacon – most recently developing a new fresh pastry production unit on a greenfield site at Malton, north Yorkshire.

A range of pastry products including sausage rolls, pastries, quiches and pies are being produced for national retailers such as M&S and Tesco.

Prior to this investment and due the continued expansion of its pork business with UK retailers, in 2012 it acquired a modern processing site on King George Dock, in Hull. The site, then known as Fish Gate, had not been operational for a few years and required significant investment to convert for use as a further pork processing facility dedicated to ASDA.

Cranswick was originally founded to produce animal feed in the early 1970s by 23 farmers in the village of Cranswick, East Yorkshire. The company expanded into the highly competitive food sector and later floated on the stock market in 1985.

Adam Couch, chief operations director, said: “Our growth is testament to the staff we employ – our knowledge base is second to none. We ship out 1,000 tonnes of our products on a weekly basis. China is a huge market for us and we are confident that will continue  in the future.”

Servelec, Card Factory and Town Centre Securities made the shortlist.