A £50 million expansion project to build a chilled yogurt manufacturing facility capable of producing 500 million pots each year in Telford, has been completed.
The investment, which has created 65 new jobs in the area, enables Muller to meet growing demand from consumers for branded and private label yogurts made with milk from British farms.
The project has doubled the size of the company’s current Telford site, increasing its capacity to make products in formats including big pots, split pots and regular fruited yogurts.
The Telford expansion includes the installation of three new state-of-the-art production lines, the modernisation of three existing lines, the installation of an energy-efficient cooling facility and a new automated high bay warehouse.
It also ensures that Muller has the manufacturing footprint to pursue potential further increases in production at the site of up to 700 million pots in future years, as the business continues to grow.
Muller has major yogurt and chilled desserts manufacturing sites at Market Drayton and Minsterley and the company was recently named as the number one dairy brand in the UK according to Kantar’s 2019 UK Brand Footprint report.
Bergen Merey, managing director at Muller Yogurt & Desserts said: “We are very proud of what we have achieved at Telford.
This is a major step towards reducing the UK’s dependence on imported yogurt products, and it gives us a significant competitive advantage.
“We have acted to enable us to increase our share of both the private label and branded yogurt category. We intend to leverage our greater capabilities to support the growth of our private label business whilst we continue to innovate and drive our core branded products like Mullerlight and Muller Corner.
“Yogurt is at the heart of the dairy category, with consumers asking for a wide range of delicious branded and private label yogurts that are made with their needs in mind – offering everyday dairy goodness, indulgence, protein, lactose-free, natural, fat-free and reduced or zero-added sugar.
“As a result of this investment, Muller customers will benefit from increased levels of innovation, choice and capabilities to make healthy, great-tasting yogurt products made in Britain with milk from British farms.”
