US-based food and beverages group PepsiCo is investing in one of its original Walkers Crisps factories in the UK.
The site in the town of Lincoln in the East Midlands region of England, will be the recipient of GBP24m (US$33m) to expand production of another snack brand, Quavers, and to purchase new equipment, including a “compact packaging machine”, as part of a plant upgrade.
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“The investment will increase capacity at the factory, enabling the team to produce more Quavers to help satisfy this demand, as well as make space for new production lines,” PepsiCo said in a statement.
It added the new equipment will be installed at the city centre Lincoln facility in mid-2022, with work currently in progress. Just Food has contacted the company for more scope on the capacity expansion plans and new production lines.
Nigel Beilby, the plant’s operations director, said: “For decades, our Lincoln factory has brought much-loved Quavers snacks to consumers up and down the country, and with this state-of-the-art technology, we’re confident that the site will continue to serve the nation for many years to come.
“We’ve always had a strong heritage in the Midlands, providing jobs to almost 2,000 people in the region across our factories in Lincoln, Leicester and Coventry.”
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By GlobalDataPepsiCo said that alongside the Lincoln investment, more than GBP1m has also been committed to its Walkers’ factory in Coventry for additional equipment to maintain production during the work at Lincoln. That site produces other snack brands such as Doritos, Wotsits, French Fries, Squares, Sunbites and Cheetos.
Last month, outside the UK, the company started building its fifth plant in Poland. PepsiCo said the plant will be its largest in Europe. The site will manufacture products for domestic sale and for export to more than 20 countries, including Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.
