Plant-Ex invests £1.25m in expansion of ingredients business
The investment has been part of rapid wave of expansion and development for the business, which also saw a major refocus on research and development – more than 10% of the organisation’s headcount working in the research and development laboratories.
Despite the global unrest created by the COVID-19 pandemic, the business continued its growth with a 1,672m2 expansion of its main site in Avonmouth, Bristol.
The new building housed a Technical Support Facility that combined four NPD laboratories for the key Divisions in the organisation – Natural Colours, Top Note Flavours, Extracts and Food Protection Systems – as well as a Development Kitchen, to further understand the impact of the company’s products in customer’s applications.
Doubling production
Plant-Ex’s expansion also resulted in a doubling in the size of the production site, which allowed the firm to achieve greater output to meet a rise in demand. This coincided with a doubling in size of its finished goods dispatch warehouse that incorporated a 150 pallet chilled store.
Since its establishment in 2010, Plant-Ex has gone on to become a global player operating in 49 countries in the flavours, natural extracts and food protection systems markets.
In 2018, the company purchased assets of RD Campbell & Co and transferred its production of flavours from Twickenham to just outside of Bristol in the process. The acquisition also allowed the business to revitalize ‘long-forgotten’ technologies in flavours development.
Turkish operations
One year later, in 2019, Plant-Ex grew its global reach through the creation of Plant-Ex Gida in Turkey and establishing a factory in Konya and sales office in Istanbul.
In 2021, Plant-Ex opened its Polish branch and – with support from the UK team – Plant-Ex Polska has already established its logistics and storage operations.
Having a branch in Poland has extended its sales activities into the Polish market and other countries of central Europe.
Plant-Ex reported a 15% year on year sales growth for the past decade and is now set to become an increasingly important player in the Global Colours and Flavours marketplace.
