Mackie’s at Taypack factory expansion plans
The Scottish snack maker has put into motion plans to double the size of its factory, which will allow it to expand production of key lines and push for further listings and accounts.
Last year saw Mackie’s invest £750,000 in a new facility in Errol, Perthshire, dedicated to the production of its Wholesums vegetable chip snacks. The investment included the installation of new technology for the process, which the manufacturer vowed to keep secret.
NPD growth
Mackie’s expansion plans followed the brand’s biggest year for new product development, with more than six launches across popcorn, crisps and lentil waves.
James Taylor, managing director at Mackie’s at Taypack, said: “The performance of the business over the last few years is a true reflection of our exceptional team, which wants Mackie’s crisps and snacks to be better quality and value than anything else out there.
“Our biggest challenges reflect the wider recruitment and supply crises – and we will be working hard to ensure neither become barriers to continued growth of the scale we’ve been able to deliver.”
Festive sales
Boxing day curry crisps amassed 230,000 units in the run up to Christmas, with Sticky Toffee Pudding popcorn adding over 160,000. Festive packs were up 47% on the previous year totalling more than £2.25m, with the sales during this time across grocery and impulse up 40%.
National wholesale account manager Mel Hack said: “It’s been really exciting so see our presence within the UK impulse channel grow over the past 12 months. It’s evident there has been a huge demand from our consumers for Mackie’s crisps to be more widely available within this channel by the fantastic rate of sale and strong growth we have seen.
“We have some very exciting channel specific plans this year which will enable our impulse customers to drive incremental profitable growth through our large range of crisps, popcorn and healthy snacks.”
Meanwhile, last month, savoury pastry manufacturer Higgidy said it was to invest £10m in expanding and developing its Shoreham-by-Sea headquarters, thanks to Samworth Brothers increasing its stake in the business.
