Yorkshire Provender has invested £2.9m into new production facilities as it prepares to go on sale nationwide in Tesco.
A new purpose-built factory, located at Leeming Bar, North Yorkshire, opened this week, increasing production capacity from 3,000 tonnes to 25,000 tonnes per year.
The investment forms part of a strategy to grow sales by 75% to 80% in the next three years, said co-founder Belinda Williams.
It comes as the soup brand, which has so far been limited to Tesco’s northern stores, was rolled out in stores across the UK this week.
“Our new state-of-the-art facilities provide us with much-needed additional capacity that will help us meet growing consumer demand,” Williams said.
Plans were also afoot for “an exciting new venture” outside soup but details were still under wraps, she added.
Yorkshire Provender, the third bestselling chilled soup behind brand leader New Covent Garden and Glorious!, clocked up £6.4m in sales last year - a 25.9% increase [Nielsen 52 w/e 28 November 2015]. Total fresh soup sales rose 2.8% to £186m.
Williams put the brand’s success down to its “genuine provenance” and reasonable prices.
A spokeswoman for Tesco confirmed the nationwide listing, which she said would “complement our own-label offer, and to ensure we provide a fantastic selection of quality chilled soups”.
Funding for the new factory was raised by YP Capital, the Regional Growth Fund and Natwest bank.
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