New £9.6M centre of excellence for snacks
The new site, next to the firm’s premises in Park Royal, makes extruded products and popcorn snacks – which bosses have identified as a growing market.
One hundred new members of staff have been employed, taking the total workforce up to 750.
Kolak makes own-label crisps and snacks for the major retailers as well as a number of branded items.
Increase innovation
The firm’s head of technical Sterling Crew said the new site had been accompanied by the launch of a centre of excellence programme to increase innovation across the board.
Crew said: “Our centre of excellence programme is absolutely driving innovation. And that’s not just about some new flavours, but also about how we make something more competitive in terms of price or looking at which type of packaging we use.”
Crew said the firm had several experts whose job it was to lead their own particular part of the centre of excellence. They then form partnerships with suppliers, research associations and trade bodies to bring benefits for the firm and its customers.
Crew said the new scheme had already reaped significant rewards in terms of allergen management.
“That is probably the biggest threat to our type of industry,” he said. “Therefore, through our centre of excellence programme, we’ve been working with our flavour house to take out any unnecessary allergens without compromising the quality of the product. We’ve done a lot of work on this with Marks & Spencer and we've been able to take out those things that don't really have any effect. We are helping our customer because we are cleaning up the label so there is one more product consumers can eat and we are making our lives easier because the fewer allergens we have in the factory, the better.”
Issues
Other issues on the agenda include reducing acrylamide levels, developing healthier products and improving manufacturing practices.
Crew added: “These are things our customers see as innovation – not just new products. The centre of excellence programme brings together expertise and strengthens our offering by providing the groundwork in terms of the trends, technical developments and issues that are important. It adds value to the service we are able to provide.”
