The West Midlands was the perfect location for the first Doritos manufacturing plant in the UK.
World convenience food and beverage manufacturer, Pepsico, which operates its Salty Snacks business in the UK as Walkers Snack Foods Ltd, chose the site of a former car spares plant in Coventry to house its £14 million state-of-the-art manufacturing line.
Coventry Plant Manager, Gary Horsfield explains why:
"Logistics are a significant cost to our business, therefore, being centrally located is key. Our plant on the outskirts of Coventry is within minutes of the M6, M69, M1, M40 and M5 motorways. We have the capability of delivering 50,000 tons of product to every corner of the UK, so being at the heart of the road network is vital for us and our customers. We are also just half an hour away from our sister plant in Leicester, which is the biggest crisp manufacturing plant in the world."
The Coventry plant opened nine years ago. Since then, Walkers has invested over £40 million, introducing many of the UK's most popular brands into Coventry, including Doritos, French Fries, Quavers, Wotsits and Squares. The workforce has increased from 24 to over 700. In the last 18 months alone, the plant has almost trebled in size to become the second largest plant within the group's European portfolio. It has become one of the UK food and drinks industry's success stories.
"Our success is a direct result of focus on consumer value and service," says Gary. "It is this drive continuously to improve that has enabled Coventry to become such a great plant."
The West Midlands' skilled engineering workforce was also a deciding factor for Walkers Snack Foods Ltd. The Coventry plant operates a complex manufacturing process, as each product undergoes a different production technique. It relies on skilled engineers to do the job. "The region's excellent quality of life means we don't have a problem in attracting a high calibre of people from all over the UK," adds Gary.
Walkers has become a familiar feature in the West Midlands community since the plant opened in the mid 1990s. Today, it sponsors one of the region's leading football clubs, Wolverhampton Wanderers, and is an active member of the West Midlands Business in the Community Forum.
The Coventry plant is already the sole supplier of Doritos in the UK and, as the world's appetite for high quality snack foods increases, it is poised to go from strength to strength. That's good news for number-crunchers and snack crunchers alike.
Interview given by Gary Horsfield, Coventry Plant Manager.