Great Yarmouth-based Pasta Foods has been awarded £500k from New Anglia LEP’s Growing Business Fund to support its expansion into a modern new factory in Norwich, protecting 140 jobs and creating 56 new ones. Pasta Foods is the UK market leader in the production of pasta used in the food industry for recipe dishes, canning, sauces, salads and snack pots. The business is also a global leader in the production of snack pellets typically made from materials like potato, lentil or chickpeas and trades with customers in 40 countries across the world.
Pasta Foods’ new factory will include a new production line, and leased warehousing will now also be brought into one warehouse in the new building. Karl Jermyn, Pasta Foods Managing Director, said: “The business has been growing successfully and the Board concluded that we should invest significant sums to add capacity to our current production facilities to capture the growth in demand for our products.”
“Ordinarily, the investment to deliver additional capacity would have been made at our Pasteur Road site, in Great Yarmouth. However, modern production line designs meeting our requirements and incorporating the latest technology are simply too large to fit within that facility. Norfolk County Council brought to our attention the factory at Forest Way, in Norwich.”
“The new facility is an excellent, modern unit with good roof height. We will run this site along with the factory at Pasteur Road. It is being funded, subject to contract, with £500k from New Anglia LEP’s Growing Business Fund. This will allow us to move forward with the project and will meet our objectives of supporting growth and employment in Norfolk and Suffolk.”
“The investment in the new factory is the first step in delivering our growth strategy. We are delighted to have been able to secure such a good facility and are grateful for the help and support from Norfolk County Council, Lloyds and New Anglia.”
Dr Andy Wood OBE, Chairman of New Anglia LEP, said: “This is an exciting development for Pasta Foods and we’re really pleased to offer a £500k grant to help the company expand and create more jobs for the future. We are also keen to talk to other businesses about how we could help fund their future plans for growth, through the Growing Business Fund that is supported by the Government’s Regional Growth Fund.”
Colleen Walker, Cabinet Member for Economic Development said “It’s so important that Pasta Foods is increasing its workforce in Norfolk. Not only are they protecting the 140 existing jobs, but adding another 56 over the coming three years. It is so encouraging to get this vote of confidence in Norfolk as a place to do business and toinvest and I’m proud of the fact that we and the Local Enterprise Partnership were able to help secure this.”
