Samworth Brothers is to officially open a 155,000 sq ft food depot and supply chain headquarters for an initial 380 staff in Leicestershire this month.
More than £12m has been invested in the latest logistics and warehousing technologies at the Oak Meadow site, on Leicester Distribution Park. One new capability is the ability to 'blast freeze' products down to minus 20C, and 'temper' them back to chill temperatures.
The new site offers a staff restaurant, plus an expanded warehouse and distribution centre.
Samworth Brothers Group Executive Director, Ian Fletcher said, “This new facility is an important milestone for Samworth Brothers. It gives us a new purpose built supply chain home for the next 20 years or so in Leicestershire and has some important new capabilities that will help us develop the business further.
'When we open we will have around 380 staff on site but there is significant room to grow over the next decade and beyond. In the future if the site was working at full capacity, it could require a workforce of 500 or more.”
Staff and operations have been transferring over the past few weeks from Samworth Brothers Supply Chain’s (SBSC) previous supply chain HQ at Meridian Park to the new purpose-built facility.
Samworth Brothers Supply Chain operates a fleet of over 200 vehicles and has 500 staff, with other main depots being situated in Cornwall and Bristol.