Cumbrian food company invests £6m in growth plan

A Cumbrian food company is investing over £6m in expansion plans which could create up to 100 new jobs.

Carlisle-based Calder Foods is building a £2.5m extension to its factory in the city. It has also acquired a competitor's business in a £3.6m deal.

Calder Foods is one of the UK's largest sandwich filling manufacturers and already employs over 100 workers in Carlisle and at a distribution depot in Birmingham.

The recent deal sees it acquiring the sandwich filling business of the Daniels Group, famous for its Covent Garden Soup Company brand, with production switching to Calder's existing Carlisle facility.

To take on the extra business, the company is investing £2.5m in a massive extension to its factory, including a state-of-the-art new production line, and is looking to as much as double the workforce over the next few years.

The firm also secured a £150,000 grant towards the work from the North West Development Agency (NWDA), aided by Cumbria Vision.