£56m investment enables us to continue meeting the UK’s changing appetite

We are thrilled to share that we will be investing £56 million in our manufacturing and distribution capabilities...

…to ensure we are set up to meet the growing demand for innovation in bakery, and to further strengthen our ability to get daily fresh products to stores across the country.

The investment will see the development of three new distribution depots in Widnes, Bognor Regis and Banbury creating 150 jobs. In addition, we are also investing in improving the environmental credentials of our fleet of almost 1000 vehicles by introducing new electric and compressed natural gas vehicles and significantly upgrading the technology used across the entire distribution network.

To meet growing demand for non-bread bakery products, and in particular the rise in popularity of crumpets and bagels, we are also building two new bakery plants; a new thin bagel line at Stockton bakery and a new crumpet plant at Burnley.

Jonathan Warburton, Chairman of Warburtons, said: “Investing in our infrastructure is key to ensuring the long-term success of our fifth generation family business. Consumer tastes are changing, and we work hard to make sure we are providing a range of products to meet consumer demand, this investment programme will allow us to better respond to these tastes for non-bread baked goods, and meet the growing demand for crumpets and bread alternatives such as thin bagels.

“We also bake 24/7, 364 days a year and pride ourselves on a running a world class distribution network and our sites are situated across the country to enable us to bake and deliver fresh to over 19,000 stores each day. The investment in 3 new depots will have a critical role in ensuring we can further support our customers and get bakery to store as fresh as possible each day.”

The new distribution depots will be built in Widnes, Bognor Regis and Banbury and will replace three existing sites in Speke, Waterlooville and Buckingham. There will be no headcount reductions as part of the move to the new sites and we are currently in the process of actively recruiting for 150 additional distribution roles.

Combined with our existing infrastructure, the new sites will allow us to deliver the 2 million products within 12 hours to stores ensuring unbeatable freshness. This investment in distribution has also been fuelled by our desire to innovate for the consumer and will allow us to grow and simultaneously meet the changing tastes of consumers, wherever they are in the UK.

In addition, the investment will enable us to further maximise our industry leading distribution network to support our retailer partners by collecting and delivering their private label bakery direct to their to stores.

The investment in manufacturing includes £18 million to create a new thin bagels line at our Stockton bakery which will be operational in June 2022, while at our Burnley bakery, we are investing £8 million to create a new crumpet line which will be operational in October 2021.

Today’s investment programme will lay down a solid platform for the future of our business, enhancing our distribution capability, enabling us to meet consumer demand and ensure we can successfully deliver our strategic customer partnerships.

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