£50 million expansion project completed

A £50 million expansion project to build a chilled yogurt manufacturing facility capable of producing 500 million pots each year in Telford has been completed.

The investment, which has created 65 new jobs in the area, enables Müller to meet growing demand from consumers for branded and private label yogurts made with milk from British farms.

The project has doubled the size of the company’s current Telford site, increasing its capacity to make products in formats including big pots, split pots and regular fruited yogurts.

The Telford expansion includes the installation of three new state-of-the-art production lines, the modernisation of three existing lines, the installation of an energy efficient cooling facility and a new automated high bay warehouse.

It also ensures that Müller has the manufacturing footprint to pursue potential further increases in production at the site of up to 700 million pots in future years, as the business continues to grow.

Müller has major yogurt and chilled desserts manufacturing sites at Market Drayton and Minsterley and the company was recently named as the number one dairy brand in the UK according to Kantar’s 2019 UK Brand Footprint report.

The report also shows that Müller is the 8th most chosen FMCG brand in the UK, picked 217 million times from shelves by consumers throughout 2018. Within the Chilled Yogurt and Potted Dessert category, Müller makes the No 1 and No 2 brands, Müllerlight and Müller Corner.

Bergen Merey, managing director at Müller Yogurt & Desserts said: “We are very proud of what we have achieved at Telford. This is a major step towards reducing the UK’s dependence on imported yogurt products, and it gives us a significant competitive advantage.

“We have acted to enable us to increase our share of both the private label and branded yogurt category. We intend to leverage our greater capabilities to support the growth of our private label business whilst we continue to innovate and drive our core branded products like Müllerlight and Müller Corner.

“Yogurt is at the heart of the dairy category, with consumers asking for a wide range of delicious branded and private label yogurts that are made with their needs in mind – offering everyday dairy goodness, indulgence, protein, lactose free, natural, fat free and reduced or zero added sugar.

“As a result of this investment, Müller customers will benefit from increased levels of innovation, choice and capabilities to make healthy, great tasting yogurt products made in Britain with milk from British farms.”