EHL Ingredients has finalised the purchase of a new warehouse facility on the Broadstone Industrial Estate, Stockport, UK. Following extensive growth in 2013, the company has invested in the 6,000 square metre site, which will house ingredient blending machines as well as provide storage space for packaging materials.
In addition, the supplier of high quality food ingredients to the UK food industry hit its £5.6m sales target at the end of 2013, marking the strongest year ever for EHL Ingredients with further growth and expansion planned.
During 2013, the company witnessed a notable increase in demand for its conventional and organic ingredients, including nuts and seeds, arrowroot powder, dried fruits and oats, chillies and Mexican ingredients, and launched several new products: Mexican Oregano, Organic Smoked Spanish Paprika, and ancient grain, Freekeh. EHL’s blends have also experienced a bumper year of sales, with larger orders coming in and new customers requesting blends, with mild, medium, hot and extra hot curry powders proving firm favourites among its target audience of food manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers.
EHL is planning further growth and expansion during 2014 and beyond and the new facility will help to achieve this. It invested £300,000 in the new facility which takes the total site space to 26 thousand square metres and will allow for a larger blending machine to be installed to enhance productivity, the speed and efficiency of orders and improve its capacity to deal with large orders.
The site is based on the same industrial estate and it positioned in close proximity to the existing EHL Ingredients building.
Sales and Marketing Director, Tasneem Backhouse, says: “We reviewed several facilities on the Broadstone Industrial Estate and in the wider Reddish and Stockport area but as soon as this became available we put in our offer as it was perfect for our needs. The location is ideal and the size will allow for further growth and additional machinery to be installed which will assist us when handling larger orders and blends. We plan to install a new, larger industrial dry ingredient blender and machinery for our packed down facility for own label clients.
“We were delighted with our sales figures for 2013 as we hit our target of £5.6m. We’re now aiming to achieve a landmark £6m by the end of 2014 and our key areas of growth are predicted to be within our herb and spice blends and organic food ingredients. We have noted a significant increase in demand for our blends, especially of our curry powders, mixed spice, Chinese five spice and garam masala blends, as our customers are requesting bigger orders from us so the new facility and machinery will supports us in this area.”
“We put our success down to several key factors; our responsiveness to customer demand and consumer trends, a strong sales team, quality organic and conventional products, a reliable service and our positive profile in the food industry press. We are confident about our progress as a business and have consolidated our position in this highly competitive market place.”
EHL is currently recruiting for several roles including a New Product Development Manager with four new roles to be announced in the next few months to assist with the smooth running of operations at the new site.
The company supplies around 300 food ingredients and boasts a 200-strong organic range as well as over 50 custom blends. EHL Ingredients’ products are sold into the food manufacturing sector and used in end products, such as breads and bakery items, ready meals, healthy snacks and soups and sauces. They are also sold to speciality food shops, delis and organic retailers across the UK.
The company was awarded its third grade A BRC certification once again in December last year. This gives EHL’s customers the reassurance of the company’s quality and safety management processes and opens up new growth opportunities for the business.
