The owner of UK-based 2 Sisters Food Group plans to invest £100m ($133.4m) across its Bernard Matthews turkey operations.
Billionaire businessman Ranjit Singh Boparan has committed the funds through his Boparan Private Office investment vehicle, with Bernard Matthews’ main production site in Halesworth, Suffolk, at the “forefront of the investment”.
Boparan suggested in a statement the rise of the GLP-1 weight-loss drugs is increasing demand for proteins such as turkey as Bernard Matthews prepares for the Christmas festive period.
Coinciding with the investment, the brand plans to launch Gochujang Turkey Strips and Moroccan Style Turkey Koftas to complement the existing range of mince, meatballs and drumsticks, which are manufactured at the Halesworth factory and also another Bernard Matthews plant in Sunderland.
However, the products are still in the development stage with talks underway with customers, a 2 Sisters spokesperson confirmed to Just Food, declining to provide details on other factory investment plans.
“The investment is across turkey production, including product development and factory improvements, with Halesworth benefitting from significant upgrades,” the spokesperson said.
“Our NextGen transformation will see continued investment over coming years.”
The NextGen programme is a £2bn initiative to “modernise factories and farms, raise animal welfare and environmental standards, and support its net zero by 2035 ambition”, according to the statement.
It covers all sites across the Boparan network, the spokesperson confirmed, but was unable to quantify the current emissions.
NextGen also includes investment in digital and robotics technology, which feature in the £100m financing.
AI is part of the investment strategy such as tracking individual barn birds. It “weighs them remotely without any human intervention, which is better for animal welfare”, the spokesperson explained.
According to the statement, Halesworth produces around 100,000 turkeys a week, with the investment geared toward “building improvements, new amenities for the 700 colleagues based at the site, a new lairage, new processing and refrigeration equipment and the introduction of advanced digital tools and robotics”.
The spokesperson was not able to provide specifics into how production will increase at the site.
Boparan said: “We are about to ramp up turkey production for the traditional British Christmas, but looking beyond the festive spike, we also see big opportunities to offer this healthy, low fat, high protein alternative all year round, in a much bigger and more exciting way than anybody is doing right now.
“We’ll learn from our new European partners and work to create new opportunities for British turkey farmers and exciting new turkey products for our customers.”
One of those partners is Heidemark Group in Germany.
The family-owned turkey and chicken processor was acquired in February, also through the Boparan Private Office.
Meanwhile, Bernard Matthews has also acquired the online business of Muscle Food, according to the investment statement.
Asked for more details, the spokesperson provided a brief statement.
“We can confirm the acquisition of the business and assets of Muscle Food by Boparan Private Office, following a short period of administration after the business experienced difficulties.
“The business aligns well with the existing BPO portfolio, being a protein-focused operation. Going forward, we will be fully evaluating the business, using the strength of our established supply chain to deliver a great product and service to Muscle Food customers in this new era.”
Operating as Scotch Muscle Food, the Liverpool-based company went into administration in July, documents show. It was involved in the delivery of meat and fish and also through the direct-to-consumer channel.
