Allied tosses £6M into Irish pancake mix

Northern Ireland's biggest baker, Allied Bakeries Ireland (ABI), is investing £6M to expand its Belfast business, with the creation of 18 new jobs.

The investment at Orby Link, which is supported by Invest Northern Ireland, includes new pancake machinery capable of producing 900,000 filled pancakes per week, in addition to its existing weekly production of around 3M flat pancakes.

The company will be the first in Ireland to produce filled pancakes, which will be sold under the Kingsmill brand.

ABI's md Alan Hempton said the company's latest venture confirmed its position as the leading bakery in Northern Ireland and would take it into bigger markets. "Such has been the success of our Belfast business that we now have a remit to develop new Allied Bakeries products, not just for the Irish market, but the UK markets and beyond," he said.

"This is reflected by our second major investment in two years."

Two years ago, ABI spent £2M upgrading its entire pancake production line, doubling the company's capacity with two state-of-the-art hotplates.

The new range of filled pancakes will be called Kingsmill Flippitz and should be listed in most leading retailers from September, said Hempton.