Dr. Oetker completes pizza production investment

Dr. Oetker UK has completed a £30m capital investment programme in its pizza production sector.
The Leyland facility in Lancashire, which produces pizza brands Chicago Town and Dr. Oetker Ristorante for the UK and international markets, has doubled its total capacity with the introduction of a new production line for its Chicago Town Deep Dish pizzas, new raw materials storage capacity and new technology which results in faster and more efficient freezing.
The continued investment in the Moss Lane facility throughout the last 10 years has resulted in more job opportunities and has seen the business swell numbers from 360 to 440 people.
Georg Heerdegen Parsbo, managing director at Dr. Oetker UK said: “Dr. Oetker is incredibly proud of our world-class facility and our new investment means we can continue to meet the demands for our great tasting pizzas both here in the UK and overseas. The Dr. Oetker philosophy of “Quality is the Best Recipe” is at the heart of the business and our investment demonstrates a clear commitment to the UK business and the future of pizza manufacturing in our Leyland facility.
“We are very grateful to the South Ribble Council and support of the local community without whom our expansion would not have been possible.”
Dr. Oetker acquired Schwans UK frozen pizza manufacturing facility in 2009 and over the past decade has undertaken a series of significant investment projects to enable 95% of its pizza sold in the UK, to be manufactured here in the UK. Further plans are in place for continued investment in the site to meet its growing UK and export sales. The planning application predicts expansion will result in the creation of a further 120 jobs once it is fully implemented.