THE MIDDLESBROUGH-based division of Irish nutrition and functional foods giant Glanbia said it was planning to get bigger by making consumers thin.
Glanbia Performance Nutrition has outpaced last year’s 9% market growth in slimming and diet products by a massive five fold and plans to more than quadruple contract manufacturing capacity on its bar lines with a £1m-plus investment in new kit this summer.
General manager Keith Burn said turnover doubled from £7m to £14m in 12 months, much of it fuelled by demand for satiety-inducing ingredients based on whey proteins.
The Riverside Park company, which produces ingredients for a range of high street brands, including slimming powders and nutrition bars, said it would look to add to its staff of 50 as it ramped up production over the next few months.
In May it will take a stand for the first time at VitaFoods, the sector’s biggest event, to showcase ingredient mixes and contract manufactured products in advance of increasing capacity.
"We've seen such high levels of growth over the past three years that staffing levels have more than trebled and we're now close to capacity in certain areas,” said Mr Burn.
“Depending on which figures you read, the sports nutrition market alone has grown by 20-30% year on year. We’ve won extra customers by going into weight management.
“The UK is a growing market, but there are others. Ireland, Portugal and Spain are really stagnant, but Scandinavia, Germany and the UK are growing.”
He said the company would look to launch a number of new products on the back of investment in plant lines.
But he said it was likely to struggle to find the right calibre of additional staff for its R&D division.
“We generally have to recruit from outside the region, sadly,” he said.
John Leer, head of business investment at Tees Valley Regeneration, which has worked with One North East on supporting the company’s expansion with a £200,000 Selective Finance for Investment grant, said: "It's great to see a company like Glanbia, which has been based in Middlesbrough for a number of years, achieving such significant growth.
"With further investment and job creation predicted, we will be working closely with Glanbia management to ensure their plans are supported and the company is able to continue to grow in Tees Valley.”
Glanbia's 36,000 sq ft site includes the manufacturing, warehousing and research and development teams.
Richard Dowson, Senior Business Development Officer at Middlesbrough Council, said: “Glanbia has positioned itself as one of the leading suppliers of nutritional and weight management foods and is an established employer in the town. I am delighted that we are working with them to bring more investment and jobs into Middlesbrough.”