Brace’s plans to head south with new plant

The plant baker. which currently has two plants in Crumlin, Newport, is looking at potential sites in the south, operations director Jonathan Brace told British Baker.

He said Brace’s has seen an 18% growth in sales over the past three years as it expanded into Bristol, Gloucester and the south-west, adding: “We are getting to the point where capacity is filling up and we have to expand. The new plant will be somewhere in the south of England as our main growth is in the south.”

Brace’s plans to build the site from new, he said. “There is nothing to buy. Building from new is the best way anyway.”

Brace’s second site in Newport, a £9.2m 64,000sq ft automated bakery, which opened in 2005, will be the model for the new site in the south. “We want smaller production units, closer to the point of distribution,” explained Mr Brace.

Land has been allocated for the new site, but details of its location and the timescales for the opening are being kept under wraps. Sales and marketing director Scott Richardson told British Baker: “We have to expand because we are doing so well with the retailers. We hope to be in Sainsbury’s stores by Christmas and we are delighted to have just been listed in Waitrose for the first time. We are also talking to Tesco about extending distribution across the whole of the south of England.”

Brace’s currently distributes in Wales and the south-west, down to Plymouth and Southampton. It is already listed at major retailers including Morrisons, Asda, Somer-ield and Tesco as well as symbol groups.

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