Taste for
change: The Manchester Rusk Company

If you've ever wondered how caterers, manufacturers and butchers spruce up cuts of meat, poultry and fish with mouthwatering glazes, coatings, sauces and seasonings, check out the Manchester Rusk Company (MRC).

Visit its website and the first thing that hits you are its award-winning credentials. There's a total of nine accolades listed, including Food Manufacture's 2007 Excellence Award for Ambient and General Groceries.

But it's not sitting on its laurels. Changes in the management structure just over a year ago led to the appointment of a new technical and development manager, Martin Littler. More than a fifth of the company's 39 staff are dedicated to technical and new product development (NPD) functions and it shows. The strong NPD ethos has led to growth in the ranges it offers commercial customers and consumers. "Our aspiration is to generate at least 10% of our annual turnover from inspiration and NPD," says md Gary Dixon, son of Roy Dixon, who founded MRC in Manchester in 1976.

Fresh additions to the portfolio, which have all just been pitched into the trade include a new Professional Collection range under the Flava-It brand, aimed at foodservice clients. There's also a new range of four 2.5kg tubs of grill oils in redcurrant & rosemary; oriental; hawaiian and mint flavours.

There's more to come. Next month, three new variants in the Flava-It consumer range, of which MRC makes 12M sachets annually, hit retail shelves: Aromatic Thai; Caribbean Jerk and Oriental Salt & Pepper. The Caribbean Jerk was the brainchild of new NPD department recruit Letitia Martin-Harris. "It was her grandma's recipe and part of what clinched her final interview," says commercial controller Stewart Niven. Aside from Caribbean influences, Niven says Thai flavours are set for a revival. "Thai will be back with a vengeance, as will Mediterranean flavours."

Working from its 1,393m2 factory, MRC makes 2,500t of dry marinades and coatings a year from three mixers in batches of 1,500kg every 20 minutes and 750,000 litres of liquid sauces annually. Its three packing lines can handle weights ranging from 15g sachets to 5kg sacks or drums. Recently, the company introduced one tonne bulk containers as well.

Production can flex from single daily shifts of 8am to 5pm to a 24/7 operation, working Monday to Saturday. Staff are flexible too, having been trained up on all production roles, so they can fill gaps elsewhere if colleagues are on holiday or ill. Dry volume sales have grown 8% in the past six months, while liquid sales have risen by 20%. Business is split equally between UK manufacturers, major retailers including wholesalers and cash and carries and independent butchers.

However, Dixon doesn't want to stop there. At the moment, overseas interests represent only a slim slice of sales, but that side of the business holds more potential, says Niven. "We're growing throughout Europe and the Middle East." Fast food chains in the developing world are fuelling appetite for broader ranges of cuisine, which is filtering down to general consumers, he says.

Dixon says demand is also originating from the ex-pat community, adding: "Saudi Arabia is crying out for added value, but it's not the easiest market in the world to break into. We're in the process of evaluating it and will be paying a visit to [food fair] Gulfood 2011 [in Dubai]."

Closer to home, production manager Dave Wheeler sees considerable potential in significant one-off events. "We are looking at concepts for the 2012 Olympics and there will be spin-off effects from that." There's also another event approaching imminently that he believes could boost sales in the barbecue sector. "We're anticipating big things from the royal wedding in April. There will be a bit of a fun factor, especially with two four-day weekends back-to-back. And if we get the weather as well, that will be a good springboard into the summer."

It's just as well there are things to look forward to, as business has been tough. Raw material sourcing and costs have been a big challenge, especially since there seems to be precious little room for passing on price hikes, says Niven. "According to recent research we have seen, 49% of the working population have nothing left for essentials at the end of the month and we're acutely aware of that. Raw material prices have been extremely volatile for the past 18 months and we have not passed anything on to the trade."

Looking ahead to the coming year, Dixon adds: "It's not going to be easy. General commodity increases on flour, wheat and sugar will inevitably have an impact on the trade."

Aside from these ingredients, MRC buys in herbs and spices from around the world and there's no telling how supply and costs for these will shape up, he says. "At the same time there has been incredible pressure from retailers." This has already shown signs of increasing further in the early part of 2011. "We have noticed a step up since Christmas. There's a lot of tension between retailers and a lot of tendering of business."

Niven adds: "The level of promotional activity has been greater than ever." However, Dixon believes manufacturers supporting such activity will reach a limit beyond which they cannot venture. "I would suggest there's an inevitability that it has to plateau. Retailers know there's only so far their suppliers are prepared to go." Meantime, as everyone who's anyone in food and drink manufacturing knows, companies have to upturn every stone in the search for further ways to make themselves leaner and more efficient. For MRC this has meant, among other things, an exhaustive programme of environmental measures that punches above its weight, masterminded by Wheeler.

Having been on staff for 11 years, Wheeler benefits from considerable familiarity with MRC's operations. He has already scrutinised waste disposal (the company generates around 100,000kg of waste annually); heat loss and energy use; transport emissions; kit efficiencies and the usual lean manufacturing techniques. "This site already sends zero waste to landfill," he says.

"All our organic waste goes to a biomass plant in Oxford, where it's used to generate electricity, and we send bits that can't be segregated for that to The Waste Exchange. It turns them into blocks that look like charcoal briquettes, which can be burned like coal."

MRC instigated a purge of inefficient equipment four years ago, but Wheeler is revisiting the subject again, having secured the help of a PhD student for 1218 months. He's currently assisting with a project monitoring the energy used by every piece of processing equipment over a three-month period, with a view to writing a comprehensive report, with action points. "He's looking at technology like variable speed drives on motors and has already highlighted energy savings of £8,000 a year."

Switching perspective to the wider supply chain, three and a half years ago MRC made the transition to a central distributor that ensures full vehicle loads, cutting road miles. The company also uses 450 suppliers of food and non-food items and is working with the North West Regional Development Agency to form a buying group to cut costs by boosting collective buying power.

As far as lean manufacturing is concerned, Wheeler says: "The Manufacturing Institute [based at Trafford Park, Manchester] has spent days running workshops on site looking at things like value stream mapping, analysing product flow." And there's a 12-month preventative maintenance programme in place to catch kit problems in advance, minimising expensive unplanned stoppages.

Dixon sums things up: "We have been winning awards for our efficiencies. It just goes to show that you can produce quality food products in an environmentally friendly way that increases margins. Small- to medium-sized enterprises can make a difference and it makes financial sense."

MRC is under no illusions as to how tough the coming months will prove to be. But it believes its business plan and continuous efficiency improvements ensure that it has taken every measure necessary to weather the storm and come out on top.