Skipton firm to create 25 new jobs after signing deal (From Craven Herald)

Skipton firm to create 25 new jobs after signing deal

4:30pm Friday 12th March 2010 in

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A long-established Skipton business has secured a £10 million contract enabling it to buck the recession and create new jobs.

The 120-year-old family business Whitakers Chocolates has secured the contract, estimated to be worth £2.5 million a year over the next four years, to become the sole supplier of mint crisps to one of the oldest British confectionery companies, Elizabeth Shaw, based in Bristol.

The Craven company specialises in producing after-dinner chocolates for both catering and retail under its own brand and also under supermarkets’ and wholesalers’ own labels.

It has invested £200,000 setting up new lines dedicated to the Elizabeth Shaw production.

Following four months of development work, production is due to start this week and Whitakers will produce 300,000 mint crisps a day for the popular brand.

“This is fantastic news for the local community, not only securing the future of our current 115-strong workforce, but also creating 25 more jobs,” said managing director William Whitaker, the fourth generation of the family to be involved in the business.

“The volatility of cocoa prices made 2009 a tough year for us, but this major contract will provide stability and help us to continue to develop our niche chocolate business. Elizabeth Shaw is one of the leading brands of after-dinner chocolates and its mint crisps account for the largest percentage of its sales. It’s great for two of the country’s oldest chocolate makers to be joining forces.

“Once fully operational, we will be producing close to two million chocolates a day and we expect our turnover to be close to £11 million this year.”

Whitakers Chocolates has established a reputation as one of the leading suppliers of personalised chocolates to hotels and restaurants nationwide.

In 2007, The Rylstone WI Calendar Girls featured on a new range of chocolates, with a donation from each sale going to Leukaemia Research.

In 2009 Whitakers announced the company had secured its Fairtrade Foundation licence and can supply fully-accredited Fairtrade products to the food industry.