2 Sisters Food Group has announced a “multi-million” pound expansion deal which will see it create up to 90 jobs.

The food firm plans to expand its ready meals plant in Carlisle following a contract win with a “major” customer. The plan involves the addition of a new 8000sq foot production facility at its Riverbank site.

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The new facility, which is scheduled for completion by September, is expected to increase volume by an additional 10m ready meals a year. It will be the “hub” for 25 additional product lines in the ‘Ready to Cook’ fish meal category. The expansion will see further investment in potato cooking and mash processing equipment, sauce cooking capability, two production lines and new chilled storage facilities.

The factory currently handles a number of categories, including potato based ready meals, vegetable accompaniments, fish cakes and crisp bakes. It produces over 80m meals per year.
The news comes following a second-quarter financial update which saw the firm post losses of GBP27.5m (US$45.6m) after being hit by a GBP20.7m impairment charge linked to the closure of two of its facilities.
William Duncanson, Carlisle site director, said: “This is fantastic news for the business and will secure a lot of new jobs for the area. This announcement further strengthens our strategic partnership with our customers and it also reflects the confidence held by them in the whole team here in Carlisle.

“We’ll now be focusing on the hard work ahead to get the new facility up-and-running and get the new lines in stores for later this year.”