DEFRA boss opens £5M frozen food warehouse
Paterson, who cut the tape at the opening of the international storage and distribution firm’s newly built depot, said its local sourcing policy helped it support businesses in the immediate area.
“The success of Grocontinental is not just about corporate growth,” said Paterson, who is also MP for North Shropshire. “As the biggest employer in a predominantly rural area, the company makes a major contribution to the local economy.”
20 new jobs
The 4,000m2 facility, which was built by food industry specialist Chalcroft Construction at Grocontinental’s headquarters in Whitchurch, Shropshire, is understood to be creating 20 new jobs.
The building boosts the firm’s existing 130,000 pallet storage capacity by a further 13,000 and can store products at temperatures of -28⁰ Celsius.
“The new warehouse is part of our £12M investment programme for 2013 which will also see the renewal of our entire vehicle fleet to keep pace with the latest in vehicle technology and economy,” said Linda Grocott, Grocontinental joint md.
Founded in the 1930s
Grocontinental was founded in the 1930s by the father of current chairman Ray Grocott and is now led by the third generation of the Grocott family, brother and sister David and Linda.
The company boasts an annual turnover of £28M. Its services include rapid thawing of frozen product for sale as chilled; repacking and relabelling; ingredient sorting and screening; cheese cutting and de-boxing and raw material storage. It also has a nitrogen tunnel for rapid freezing.
In 2010 it reached an agreement with First Milk enabling the dairy cooperative to use its £3M multi-temperature warehouse to store its cheeses, such as The Lake District Dairy Company and Mull of Kintyre.
