Nationwide Produce has invested £2.5million in a new onion grading and packing facility.
The plant, at Long Sutton in Lincolnshire, is a site that has been owned by the firm for nearly 20 years.
It had previously been using a third party to run the grading and packing side of its business.
Group managing director, Tim O’Malley, said: 'We are now growing 340 acres of root crops ourselves, and have 23 members and 37,000 tonnes of roots in our grower group, Richmond Farms.
'We have been using a third party for all grading and packing, so when the Long Sutton site became available as a long-term tenant moved out, it made sense to bring that function in-house under the Richmond Farms banner.'
The packhouse has been extended to 25,000 sq ft, and sits on eight acres of land.
Nationwide Produce has also taken on 38 new members of staff for the venture.
O'Malley added: 'We’ve been in production for just over a month now, and are packing around 700 to 1,000 tonnes of onions per week from the new site. Most of the investment is in machinery so we can pack anything from 250g to 25kg.
'We need the capability to pack a large range as our customer base is typically diverse and includes retail, food-service, wholesale, packers, processing and export. We’re delighted with the new facility and have already drawn up plans to add on a large extension.”
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