Snack firm to expand

The firm is also about to launch a new luxury crisp

A Northern Ireland snack food manufacturer has announced an expansion into the English market.

Tayto, which produces potato crisps at its Tandragee, County Armagh plant, has acquired a factory in England and a second site in County Armagh.

The factory at Skelmersdale, in the north west of England, employs 25 people.

The company says it plans to use the 32-acre former Courtalds site in Lurgan as a central distribution depot for the whole of the UK.

Group sales manager John McQuaid said the acquisitions represented a significant investment for the family-owned business.

John McQuaid said Tayto were making real in roads into the GB market.

"In Northern Ireland, the crisp and snack market alone is worth £72.8m and is growing by 2.4% year on year while the GB market is worth over £2 bn," he said.

"Tayto has not only met national competition head on in our own market but we are now making real in roads into the GB market.

"What the two acquisitions mean is that we have the purchased a 250,000 sq ft facility in Lurgan, a storage and distribution facility and the purchase of a snack manufacturing facility in Lancashire.

"Both of these acquisitions enable us to secure our position in Northern Ireland but more importantly, to further develop our business in the GB marketplace.

"Tayto is integral to the town of Tandragee, we employ 350 people here, we source much of our raw materials and potatoes from the local farming community here.

"We recognise fully that the crisp and snack market is an extremely competitive market place and central to our strategy going forward is our new product development process."

The company is also about to launch what it says is a new "luxury crisp" onto the snack market.

Tayto employs 350 people at its Tandragee headquarters.