The Deputy Minister for Farming and Food, Rebecca Evans has visited the Fruitapeel plant in Llantrisant to see how the growing company have been able to expand their operations with help from the Welsh Government.
Established in 2006, Fruitapeel Ltd. is an industry-leading manufacturer of quality juices, smoothies and fruit and confectionery sauces to the retail and food service sectors. They recently won a Horticulture Wales Award which was presented to them by the Deputy Minister at last year’s Winter Fair.
The Deputy Minister was given a tour around the company’s factories and took the opportunity to discuss Fruitapeel’s new High Pressure Processing investment for 2015 with the company directors.
The Deputy Minister said, “Following the Welsh Government’s offer of support for the company to secure the former SunJuice plant in 2010, Fruitapeel have been able to grow their business year on year and are now one of the fastest growing confectionary juice companies in the UK. This is a fantastic success story and the company’s vision for the future will no doubt provide many more chapters, which I will be keen to follow.
“It is particularly pleasing to see the company invest significantly in its facilities on their Cardiff site, which is great news for the area and a fantastic opportunity for the local supply chain to bring additional benefits to the local economy.
Managing Director Terry Haigh said, “Welsh Government support has been essential in the growth of Fruitapeel Ltd at Llantrisant over the last few years. We look forward to continuing the great relationship we have with the Welsh Governments Food & Drink team and further growing our business by taking it to the forefront of juice and smoothie making in the UK.”
Mark Horsman, Fruitapeel’s Development Manager, said, “Making use of the assistance available in Wales through the Welsh Government has been essential in the growth of the Company. We are about to embark on a new chapter of the business with new technologies and innovation that will allow us to lead the field in development and processing of juice and smoothies. Through Welsh Governments Food & Drink team and network a great deal of support has been available to achieve this.”
In 2009 Fruitapeel located into Wales with support from Welsh Government via a Single Investment Fund and a Processing and Marketing Grant and have since become the fastest growing juice manufacturer and confectionary sauce company in the UK.
They are a limited company who now employs 55 staff on site in Llantrisant with a turnover in the last full financial year of £13.8m and net assets of £2m. The company have three units on Llantrisant Industrial Estate and have invested considerably in equipping and grading the units to food hygiene standard.
The company are in the process of purchasing a HPP plant which will hopefully be sited at Unit 8 on the Llantrisant Business Park. Total investment is in the region of £2m with the creation of around 25 new jobs.