The company has opened a new 914m2 facility near Canary Wharf as part of the investment, installed with some of the latest freezing and chilling technology. Star Feast has also invested in two new delivery vans and a branded tuk-tuk.
Four new jobs have already been created as part of the expansion plan – two in sales, a warehouse worker and a delivery driver.
Star Feast Foods predicted the expansion would deliver £3M in new sales over the next 12 months.
Business development manager Mohammed Khan said the investment reflected the UK’s growing appetite for the company’s sustainable shrimp.
‘Meet growing demand’
“We have always supplied into UK supermarkets and some restaurants in the south east, but felt the time was right to create a dedicated base locally that could meet growing demand and provide a trade counter offer,” said Khan.
“The £200,000 investment gives us a prime location in London and enough space to stock as many products as our HQ in the West Midlands. We can now supply our customers in a few hours whilst offering the general public the chance to buy great tasting shrimp and a wide range of other seafood and poultry over the counter in small quantities.”
The opening of the London site has boosted Star Feast Foods’s owner Star Agro Marine’s turnover to more than £9M – a 30% increase from last year.
Star Agro md Steve Money added: “Moving into the London and south east market is a natural stage in our development and the next step in us achieving £15M sales by the end of 2018.
‘Plans to increase our range’
“We’ve also got some exciting plans to increase our range to more than 50 different seafood, poultry and dried goods products.”
Plans are now in place to open a third seafood processing facility in the south west of England, according to Star Agro, with the possibility of acquiring a complementary business with an already established footprint in the region.
Meanwhile, a number of food and drink firms have made investments in their businesses over the past month.
Baking ingredients supplier Real Good Food (RGF) is investing £15.5M to expand two of its subsidiaries in Liverpool and Wiltshire, while Coca-Cola European Partners has invested £39M in an automated warehouse at is factory in Sidcup.