The investment at the facility, which currently employs 160 people, will take place in two phases with the first lasting about a year and costing around £65M. Yogurt production will be boosted from 350M pots per year to about 1bn with the creation of 200 jobs, a spokesman told FoodManufacture.co.uk.
Christoph Wenisch, chief executive of the firm’s parent company Nöm International, said: “We have a clear strategy to increase our presence as a major player in the UK short life dairy market and extending the Nom Dairy plant at Telford will see us achieve that.
British milk
“There is extensive land on our 24-acre site available for the expansion and most of the base infrastructure is already in place to process the large additional volumes of British milk that will be required.”
The start of the first phase of expansion depends on the firm finding partners to accelerate its growth strategy. “It could be one or more partners, a manufacturing partnership or a joint venture, or an innovative partnership. Any form of partnership that will benefit all parties involved and help Nom achieve its ambitious growth plans will be considered at this stage,” said the spokesman.
The firm is in negotiation with three potential partners and construction should begin with in the next two to three years, he added.
The second phase of the investment plan focuses on boosting the dairy’s production to 1.5bn pots of yogurt per year. The firm wants to take a bigger slice of the short-life dairy market, which is estimated to be about 6bn pots per year. This second phase is expected to create a further 150 jobs.
Own-label
The two-phase expansion is needed due to the success of Nom’s own-label yogurts which contribute more than 50% of its £70M turnover, said the spokesman. He also highlighted the potential for growth in its ‘nom’ brand yogurts and a brand produced in partnership with a retailer.
Wenisch added: “About 3bn pots of short-life dairy products are imported into the UK every year and one of our objectives is to make meaningful inroads into that market with UK retail partners.
“Development of brand new dairy facilities, with scalable and flexible capacity, will allow us and future partners to capitalise on the growing trend among UK retailers for locally- sourced produce, along with generating the opportunity to produce at lowest cost.”