Retaining the Dartmouth Foods name, the new business will combine the “respective skills of the two food businesses and deliver growth, efficiency and a unique proposition for customers”.
Starting with duck, the new joint venture will integrate cooked poultry operations into the Faccenda Foods poultry supply chain.
Production at the new Plymouth site will start this summer. It will initially employ 150 people, but that number is likely to grow before the end of the year.
In a statement, Faccenda said the factory was built to meet “the highest environmental standards and with state-of-the-art cooking facilities, the new site will significantly increase capacity and efficiency, opening up potential for new product development”.
‘More products, better quality’
Customers for cooked poultry products will benefit from “more products, better quality, with the confidence that comes from a short supply chain”, it added.
The new business builds on the long-term supply agreement that had existed between Dartmouth and Faccenda Foods and will support the growth ambitions of both businesses.
Furthermore, the deal was claimed to offer a unique proposition in the cooked poultry meat sector, being the only UK supplier able to offer cooked British chicken, turkey and duck.
Dartmouth Foods joint md Nick Obolensky said this partnership would provide both parties with real opportunities for growth.
“Being able to deliver products through such a short supply chain is a huge advantage and gives us the security and capacity to provide a unique range of cooked British poultry that our customers will like and consumers will enjoy,” he added.
‘Integrating the cooked operation’
Faccenda Foods md Andy Dawkins said: “A significant proportion of the duck market is in cooked products, and the team at Dartmouth Foods are great at what they do, so working more closely and integrating the cooked operation into the supply chain makes perfect sense.
“We believe that consumers will love the quality and taste of our duck and this partnership will enable more of them to try it.”
Dartmouth Foods joint md Ed Obolensky said the new facility in Plymouth would be the model for a modern cooking operation.
“It is being built to meet the highest environmental standards and we’re installing state-of-the-art equipment to give us more capacity, greater efficiency and lots of exciting new opportunities for developing our product range,” he said.