Dairy business Langage Farm has seen a dramatic turn around in its fortunes and is creating jobs again after securing major supermarket orders.
The business, based at Smitherleigh on the edge of Plymouth, has extended its factory and taken on new workers after its high-end yogurts were a hit for Aldi, and Marks and Spencer (M&S) has been bowled over by the company’s flavoured thick cream.
These vanilla and chocolate creams are now being sold in 120 M&S stores nationally and are expected to be in as many as 400 or even 500 at Christmas.
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Aldi is selling the high-end glass jar Farmhouse Yogurts in 396 stores around the 海角视频 with the possibility of a full 1,100-store national roll out.
It’s a major improvement for the firm, which was severely impacted by the coronavirus lockdown, as hospitality businesses cut orders, and was losing up to £50,000 a week in May 2020.
But Langage Farm bosses hunkered down and used the time to brainstorm new products, which have been a big success.
“It was good strategic planning,” said Paul Winterton, managing director. “Myself and five managers focused on new product development to see if there were market opportunities.
“We secured another contract with Aldi, we had been supplying small glass yogurts, and that proved successful, so we went to a bigger jar.”
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The new 350g jars – which contain flavours such as Lemon and Lime, Blueberry and Blackberry and Madagascan Vanilla - have been a barnstorming success and Mr Winterton said: “Sales have exceeded expectations.”
Langage Farm’s in-house engineering team built an extension with a new production line at the factory and another five employees were hired, bringing total staff numbers to 55. Mr Winterton said another 10 workers could be needed soon as demand heightens.
Meanwhile the firm’s strawberry-infused clotted cream has also been a chart-buster, with production increased from 5,000 pots a week to up to 30,000, leaving Mr Winterton to say: “We were chuffed to bits.”
It led to the business developing two new thick creams, a vanilla flavour and a chocolate variety, made with Jersey and Guernsey cream and Italian dark chocolate, which M&S is snapping up.
“We got the idea from chocolate ice cream,” Mr Winterton said. “We wanted to do a cream that could be a stand-alone or sold as a dessert accompaniment.
“They are in 120 stores at the moment and in Christmas week will go up to 400 or 500, a full national distribution. For us to be associated with M&S is fantastic.”
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And more new products are in development including a vegan yogurt, scheduled for late December.
“We have been very busy from the development point of view,” Mr Winterton said. “We have kept the business going and pointing into a different direction and are looking forward to more new products for March and Summer 2021. There are future development projects with M&S for Q1 next year. But once we have the development stage done we have to get it to work commercially.”
He praised the company’s staff as “exceptional” and said: “I’m not a fan of hierarchy, we see ourselves as one big team.”
The business, already working to the highest standards of cleanliness at its factory, has even increased anti-virus measures during the Covid-19 crisis, with increased hand-washing and sanitisation stations, and temperature checking of everyone entering the premises.
“This environment was clean anyway,” Mr Winterton said. “But we have gone up several levels to keep the virus at bay.”