New bake production line for Northumbrian Fine Foods increases capacity

A new £1.2m bake oven and production line at Northumbrian Fine Foods (NFF) is now fully operational and is already significantly adding to production capacity at the Gateshead based biscuit manufacturer.

The new line will help meet the soaring demand for the company’s rapidly expanding range of biscuits, especially in the gluten-free sector. The oven and associated production line has increased baked production output by around 30% and created 40 new jobs in the process.

“The new bake line will enable us to further develop our range of ‘free-from’ biscuits and cookies to meet strong customer demand,” says Stewart McLelland, NFF managing director. “This investment will reinforce our leading position in the gluten-free sector and enable us to develop new markets, including export.”

The new line will focus on the production of a wide range of different biscuits including ‘indulgent’ cookies, rotary moulded biscuits and bake bars such as Granola.

As well as major supermarket own-label products, NFF also manufactures gluten-free biscuits under the Prewett’s brand. About 70% of the UK’s gluten free sweet biscuit production is carried out at the NFF site.