Délifrance – the leading bakery solution for foodservice providers, retailers and bakers across the UK & Ireland – has launched the £4m evolution of its production facility in Wigston, doubling the site’s capacity.
The advanced, more environmentally-friendly facility sits alongside the current Wigston site, and will produce more fresh viennoiserie to accommodate growing UK consumer tastes.
Celebrating 20 years of exceptional production
Délifrance has been producing a wide array of products, from frozen baguettes to fresh croissants, at its Wigston site for 20 years, but this year marks the tenth anniversary of the site’s fresh viennoiserie line opening. The UK’s passion for exceptional viennoiserie has grown exponentially over the past decade, leading to the need for the fresh viennoiserie production facility to expand.
Andrew Cole, Managing Director, said, “Wigston has been a fantastic location for us for decades now. Being so central, it enables great connections with customers, and means we can deliver the freshest products each day – something vital for viennoiserie.”
Over £4m has been invested into the new site, guaranteeing it houses the finest equipment and staff to deliver the great tasting products UK consumers have come to expect from the Délifrance brand.
Viennoiserie unique to the UK
The production facility produces two types of viennoiserie products: thaw & serve, and fresh pre-packed. This includes a range of Délifrance favourites – croissants, pains au chocolat, pains aux raisins, chocolate twists. While thaw & serve products are more common-place across Europe, fresh prepacked products are quite unique to the UK market.
Cole said, “The viennoiserie market has boomed since we first launched back in 2008. This growth been driven by a range of trends including; a better awareness of French products; increased demand for breakfast and convenient snacking products; and higher expectations on quality.
“But fresh prepacked viennoiserie – products that can be bought in shops in flow-wrapped packs – is very unique to the UK market. We’ve got a lot of interest from our international Délifrance colleagues to see how these products do!”
The site features a brand new finishing room, giving the experienced Délifrance team the opportunity to fill and decorate products. Eye-catching colours and product variety are two of the biggest trends of the year, and with this trend set to continue into 2019, this room gives Délifrance a competitive edge.
A facility designed with the environment in mind
Alongside the new finishing room, the facility also includes a range of features to make production more environmentally friendly:
• Doubled oven capacity with heat retention walls
• Minimised noise pollution
• Time-saving, auto-boxing equipment
• Auto-stop conveyor-belts if no product is detected
• Ambient air cooled cooler
• Motion-detection area lighting
• LED lights installed factory-wide
• Double-glazed windows and doors with extra UV retention
This investment in its Wigston site and viennoiserie production follows Délifrance’s recent global rebrand. The rebrand has seen Délifrance UK align its visuals and messaging with the bakery giant’s international identity.