Mash Direct adds 40 workers
Marketing and export director Jack Hamilton, son of Mash Direct’s founders, husband and wife Martin and Tracy Hamilton, told FoodManufacture.co.uk: “We will have new staff as a result of the contract”.
He said it would be hard to nail down exact numbers at this stage. However, he added that in the past year “we have grown from 103 to 140 currently”.
Doubling capacity
The contract to supply six stock keeping units to 363 Asda stores from this month would significantly increase Belfast-based Mash Direct’s UK-wide coverage, Hamilton said. In the wake of the deal, the firm could end up doubling capacity with a new 2,323m2 factory built to meet soaring demand, he added.
“We have the new despatch and packaging areas in, and as the year continues we will have a chilled high care facility as well,” he said.
The new factory, located on the company’s County Down farm, could strongly boost turnover as a result, he claimed. “We have started at £12M and will increase that to £15M, and with the new factory we could increase this further to £20M.”
Even more production capacity might be needed, given the signature of a recent contract to supply 13 products to Ocado and existing business with retailers including Tesco and Sainsbury, he said.
The Asda contract was part of Mash Direct’s strategy to capture a greater share of the chilled ready meal market, valued at £1.38bn at the beginning of this year.
Boost foodservice sales
In addition to targeting growth in UK retailers, which represent 65-70% of its sales, Hamilton vowed that Mash Direct would boost foodservice sales and exports to regions such as the US.
Mash Direct, which was launched just 10 years ago, won the award for Most innovative small food manufacturer in Food Manufacture’s 2013 Food Manufacturing Excellence Awards.
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