Indian food firm to create up to 50 jobs

Founded in 1977, Simtom Food Products makes a range of Indian sauces, seasonings, marinades, pickles, and chutneys. The East Midlands-based firm imports ingredients from India and manufactures products to its own recipes before selling to the retail and wholesale markets under supermarket own-label and its own branded products.

The new finance package will allow the firm to invest about £2.5M in upgrading its production line and employ the extra staff, in addition to its current workforce of about 40, within the next two years.

Bhavin Chandarana, director at Simtom Food Products, said: “This significant financial commitment will help us to extend our reach in a sector we have been established in for more than 35 years.​

“By investing in a new production line we have replaced our ageing machinery with new equipment, which will allow us to realise greater returns and achieve sustained economic growth.”​

'Totally new production line'​

Chandarana said: “We have a totally new production line and have taken the whole facility up to a really high food standard.”​

Developing the firm’s customer base had enabled the manufacturer to grow by about 25–30% each year.

“For instance, we work with Lidl in 28 European countries and do a lot with Aldi, as well as going into some of the ready-made products sold by Asda and Tesco,”​ he told local publication This-is-Leicestershire.​

“The opportunities are there without a doubt and we have the right relationship with all the big players.”​

The firm’s turnover has climbed from £3M to £7M since 2008. Chandarana estimated the investment would help boost turnover to £25M by 2018.

Chris Archer, head of food and drink at Yorkshire Bank said the manufacturer had a clear view of its business objectives.

“Simtom Food Products is a company with a clear business plan and is already proving to be a resilient brand, which is performing well, despite being faced with a challenging economy,”​ said Archer.

“Yorkshire Bank is pleased to be supporting the company and looks forward to continuing to develop our relationship in the coming years.”​

Business Expansion Fund​

The bank launched a £1bn Business Expansion Fund last autumn as part of a new project to support businesses.

The ethnic ready meals segment fuelled overall growth in the ethnic market with a 9% value increase to £454M between 2010–2011, according to Mintel.

Ready meals now account for £3 in every £5 spent on ethnic food.

While Indian cuisine lagged behind Chinese food in terms of usage, it was the largest ethnic food segment in terms of value in 2011. It accounted for half – value at £680M – of all ethnic food sales with particularly strong performance from ready meals.

Indian ready meals were the fast-growing variety of ready meal measured by usage between 2010 and 2011.

Chinese ready meals enjoyed a strong year in 2011, growing 15% on 2010 to break the £200M barrier, said Mintel.

Meanwhile, if you are looking for a job in food and drink manufacturing, check out the 1,192 vacancies currently available on Foodmanjobs​.