Me and My Factory

Bells Food Group boss: how £3.6M investment will boost sales

By Noli Dinkovski

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Pastry

Scottish pie and pastry maker Bells Food Group is set to grow sales throughout the UK and beyond after completing phase one of a £3.6M investment, according to its md Ronnie Miles.

In this exclusive interview with FoodManufacture.co.uk, Miles explained how the purchase of a new laminator has doubled the company’s pastry-making capacity, enabling it to push beyond its Scottish heartland.

He said: “Currently, we manufacture approximately on average 60t of pastry per week. Now, that can be puff pastry, or shortcrust pastry – but essentially ​[the new laminator] means we can produce double that.”

Phase two of the investment

Miles, who has been at the company 27 years, explained that phase two of the investment would focus on improving productivity and efficiency across the businesses two sites, in Shotts, Lanarkshire.

 “Some of the investment will go towards end-of-line processing such as pastry interleavers and wrapping equipment – essentially, equipment that will make us more efficient and productive.”

Miles also said there were plans to improve cooking and cooling processes in the pie factory.

He added: “We manufacture on average almost 33M pies per annum. So, we’re Scotland’s leading manufacture of branded pies.”

Me and My Factory series

To read more on how Miles is planning to grow the business further – part of our ‘Me and My Factory’ series of profiles – order your copy of the October issue of Food Manufacture​ magazine​.

Meanwhile, the director at a leading pork processor has claimed that industry-wide collaboration has helped reduce the meat sector’s audit burden in the wake of the horsemeat scandal.

In an exclusive video interview​, Rob Nugent, operations director at Direct Table Foods, told FoodManufacture.co.uk that the creation of a voluntary British Retail Consortium meat module audit showed how the industry “can produce results”​, when working together.

Do you and your factory have a story to tell? If you think you would make a suitable Me and My Factory candidate, Food Manufacture’s associate editor Noli Dinkovski​ would love to hear from you.

Related topics People & Skills Bakery

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