PRESS RELEASE – 15.2.15 – Nottingham
The contract packing and cold pressed oil producer Phoenix Group has expanded its food manufacturing operations with a new high-care food processing facility in Nottingham.
Its new dedicated high-care packing site at Southglade Food Park, Nottingham, allows Phoenix to provide a range of new outsourced services for its clients including batch heating and boiling, emulsification, dry and wet ingredient blending and high-shear blending.
Production began at the state-of-the-art premises in January. The 2,600 sq ft site adds to the company’s existing 26,000 sq ft facilities already in operation.
An additional seven full-time roles will be created at the new site this year, adding to Phoenix’s 25 existing employees. The number of new jobs could rise to 30 by 2017.
Ben Guy, MD of Phoenix, said: “This venture marks a really exciting step for us as a business as we expand further into high care food manufacturing. Having this additional space lets us offer a whole range of new services to our customers who are increasingly demanding more specialised production techniques from their suppliers that only high-care sites can deliver.
“We’ve got our first new customer in place already and have several others, existing and prospective, who are interested to find out what we can now do for them on top of our existing filling and contract packing services. With the flexibility of two sites we know we can deliver this work by making the best use of both, as needed, to meet demand.”
Phoenix’s new site will be fully connected with its existing suite of bespoke apps – launched last year at a cost of £25,000 – which give production staff and customers real-time access to cloud-based quality management and stock control systems.
The company has made a five-year commitment to the new premises through a lease arrangement supported and made possible by Invest in Nottingham.
Simon Hall Growth Hub Manager at Nottingham City Council said “Phoenix are achieving growth through innovation which is a great example for other businesses to follow. We’re delighted that this expansion is taking place in Nottingham and that we’ve been able to play a part in making this happen. We’d be very pleased to talk to any other Nottingham companies with similar growth ambitions”.
Southglade Food Park is a commercial development dedicated to specialist food production. Following a recent £6 million expansion funded by Nottingham City Council and the European Regional Development Fund, there are 12 newly extended and refurbished units on site ranging from 900-4,000 sq ft in size.
David Powell, Principal Estates Surveyor for Nottingham City Council, said: “Phoenix Group will be the first tenant in the second phase of Southglade Food Park, and we are pleased to be able to assist with their exciting business plans.
“The expansion of Southglade Food Park provides a unique opportunity for businesses within the food and drink sectors to occupy newly built food grade units, whilst also benefiting from onsite business support. Further details can be provided upon request by calling 0115 8763914”.
Phoenix reported a 70 per cent rise in its turnover year-on-year for its financial year ending August 2015, up from £1 million to £1.7 million, and is forecasting further growth this year.
Visit www.phoenixgroup.co.uk for more details.
Media contact
Rob Tomkinson
07723602254/ 01158242212
ENDS
Notes to editors
Phoenix Group is one of the UK’s leading suppliers of contract packing and speciality high-care manufacturing to the food industry. It supplies products to food manufacturers and FMCG retailers across the country, as well as to a wide range of export markets. Formed in 2007, its complete ‘end-to-end’ service delivers quick turnarounds, flexibility and consistent quality in every finished product from its custom-built facilities in Nottinghamshire.
It’s also the largest producer of cold pressed oils in the UK, supplying 4 million litres of expertly filtered, high-quality oils per year to major FMCG retailers across the country for food and non-food uses. For more details contact pr@phoenixgroup.co.uk/ 01158242212).