Pecan Deluxe Candy invests £3m to bring production in-house

Starting with the installation of seven cold stores, Pecan Deluxe’s seven-year partnership with Dawsongroup Temperature Control Solutions delivered significant savings by removing the need for offsite storage and distribution and therefore associated handling costs – as well as the time taken to audit third parties.

The completed build now features a frozen chamber, tempering room and chill room that are linked to the existing factory to streamline production. This also contributed to Pecan’s carbon reduction ambitions.

Complete ownership​

Dawsongroup product development manager Michael Sansum said the investment had given Pecan complete ownership of its production line.

“Rather than being reliant on third parties to hold raw materials, deliver the correct stock on time, and store produce at the right temperature, Pecan Deluxe can now solely use its own facilities to create high-quality products as well as vastly improving site security,” ​said Sansum.

Graham Kingston, managing director at Pecan Deluxe, explained that, before the new partnership, the factory had a less than ideal set-up in terms of ingredients storage and handling.

‘Proud to show customers’ ​

“We now have a real manufacturing facility, which we’re proud to show to customers – actually it’s now a real differentiator for us as a business and as a physical structure, it’s a powerful message about the strength of our offering,”​ said Kingston. “There are very few, if any, sites like this in our sector across the world, never mind in the UK.​

“The investment we’ve made over these seven years has given us the ability to oversee every element of our manufacturing process. Not only has this provided financial benefits, but also enables us to ensure our products are of the highest possible standard – we’re now leading the way as a global ingredients manufacturer, not just following.”​

Meanwhile, Burts Potato Chips is to create more than 60 new jobs​​ at its Leicester site as part of its expansion of the recently acquired factory.