The company is recruiting 50 operational staff and a further 10 specialist staff to operate the new plant alongside its existing Bridgeness Road facility.
The expansion will take the firm’s total number of staff on the site to over 1,000, as it ramps ups its production of convenience salads, manufactured through Caledonian Produce.
The company confirmed that a further 10 product lines for its major UK retail customer will also begin in January, with further products expected to launch in April 2012. The firm declined to identify the customer.
Operational
A spokesman for Bakkavör told FoodManufacture.co.uk: “The new Caledonian Produce factory site should be operational by the end of December. As the products have to be trialled and tested through the factory we cannot yet give specifics on the range.”
Bakkavör first earmarked the Bo’ness site for further development in January. It currently makes ready-to-eat snack-salads and prepared potatoes for Marks & Spencer.
The firm said that this was “primarily to ensure that it has sufficient capacity to meet seasonal demand that comes with producing salad products".
Caledonian Produce human resources manager, Jayne Patterson told local newspaper the Linlinthgow Gazette: “The site in Bo’ness has been very successful. We have a very loyal workforce and it’s recognition of that commitment that’s meant we have the significant investment to expand and open the factory.”
Food trials
Equipment for the new factory is also now being commissioned. This will be followed by in-house food trials that begin next month, for which new staff are being recruited.
Meanwhile, last month Bakkavör announced 24 compulsory redundancies at its English Village Salads (EVS) business, with 50 further job losses to follow.
The 24 redundancies will affect salaried employees at the two EVS sites in Yorkshire.
Bakkavör said it was also making 50 redundancies among its weekly paid employees. Others will be relocated to different sites.
EVS employs a total of 270 salaried and weekly paid staff across its Selby and Newport sites.