A bakery in Denbighshire has opened a second production site so it can meet the demand for its bakery produce.
Henllan Bakery dates back to 1908 and has been situated on its same site on Denbigh’s Colomendy Industrial Estate for more than 40 years.
But in recent years demand has soared as the company has expanded its penetration into more markets in Wales and across the border – as well as adding new product lines.
With orders soaring from its customers – which range from small shops to supermarket giants – the company had outgrown the premises.
This has seen Henllan invest £1m in buying and fitting out a second bakery site opposite the unit.
It opened for the first time on Monday and will house the cake side of the thriving business – paving the way for more product development and increases in production and staff levels, which currently number 94.
Production director at Henllan Bakery Tom Moore said: “Due to the increase in bread production after contracts with companies like Tesco, Co-op and Morrisons, we were really at capacity at the other site and landlocked.
“While we could do the day-to-day stuff we could not develop new products and experiment as there just wasn’t the space.”
This saw them begin planning on a second site back in 2017.
Tom added: “It is a huge investment for the company, of around £1m in total.
“It was also a big investment in time and planning, we have been planning this for 12 months and the build was six months.
“We kept this work local, we used 15 local contractors on the build and just one from outside the area, this is putting money back into the local economy.”
Staff moved in on Monday and the company already has exciting plans for how it will use the new space.
Tom said: “We have plans in place for the future, particularly working with other brands in North Wales like Halen Môn, Welsh Lady Preserves, Llaeth y Llan and Dwyfor Coffee.
“To develop these new products we needed the space to get things right and we already have national retailers interested in these new products.
“Also when you work with the multiple retailers you need to be able to respond quickly to a new trend, this extra space will allow us to that.
“With the new site we aim to increase cake production by 50% which will mean we will be taking on new staff in the future.
“We are now at 94, which is a big increase on recent years.
“We are always looking at pushing the boundaries with the areas we cover.
“We are now Wales-wide with our cakes with Morrisons.
“If we had stayed just in the one bakery we would have had to stand still, but we want to keep developing the company.”
He had special praise for the staff and the way they have reacted to the move.
He said: “I have to thank the staff, they have been superb throughout all of this, putting in extra hours and working weekends to get through this period.
“They are a credit to the company.
“We have a lot of staff that have been here a long time. We are also training up apprentices so we have the next generation coming through.
“We will be taking on more apprentices in the future, especially after this expansion.”
Fellow director Ed Moore added: “The site makes us much more efficient – saving time and reducing costs and waste.
“When you grow and grow you get these problems with space but it is a nice problem to have. “We have kept growing because we don’t let customers down, we are big enough to cope, small enough to care.”
