Signature Flatbreads to create 200 jobs

News of the creation of the firm, which has been set up by bakery giant Aryzta was announced on January 12​.

Signature Flatbreads is being led by joint mds and former bosses of Honeytop Speciality Foods William and Charles Eid, who remain heads of India-based ethnic breads business Signature International Foods.

William Eid told FoodManufacture.co.uk he expected Signature Flatbreads, which is using Honeytop Speciality Foods’s factory in Dunstable as its manufacturing base, to expand quickly. “We expect to breach £100M turnover within three years and there are plans for new production lines.​

‘Further investment’​

“During the first year it will take time to install the new equipment and to test the products we want to launch, so there will be a year of further investment in business and capacity. But we expect in the second year there will be 200-plus employed there in addition to those who are there at the moment.”​

He confirmed that capital expenditure in the firm would exceed £10M in the next 18 months.

While Signature Flatbreads shared a similar name to Signature International Foods and the Eid brothers would continue to manage both businesses, there were no immediate plans to integrate the two, Eid claimed.

‘Authentic flatbreads’​

Eid said Signature International Foods, which was launched in 2011, had been able to rapidly expand in India because competitors were much smaller and could not produce on the same scale. “We succeeded in producing 45,000 japatis an hour. We developed a range of really authentic flatbreads, which are a staple in the region.”​

He said similar products could be translated easily into the UK. “We have products that are very relevant to take India’s flatbreads to the next level, so we have a pipeline of fantastic products to excite the category and grow it in the UK.​

“We will be realising products one by one into the marketplace. Indian bread will feature highly and we’ll have flavour variants and exciting twists. We can use Honeytop’s portfolio and customer base.”​

Products could also include ethnic wraps and sandwiches, he said.

Boost growth​

Signature Foods had ample routes to develop business, as a result of the Eids’s and Honeytop’s existing connections with all the major supermarket chains, he added. Aryzta had extensive links with quick service foodservice customers that could boost growth, he said.

“We will primarily focus on retail, but will most certainly want to develop through foodservice as well.”​

Having been at the helm of Honeytop Speciality Foods, the Eid brothers left when it was acquired by Aryzta in 2011 and went on to set up Signature International Foods.