Dried fruit and nuts supplier Petrow Food Group has opened an 80,000sq ft factory and warehouse at Haverhill, Suffolk.

Petrow invested £4m in the site and the opening marks the end of a rebranding project, which took place in the wake of Petrow Food Industries’ (PFI) 2013 acquisition of Quality Kernels Ltd.

The plant will provide a full range of chopping and roasting services for dried fruit, coconut, seed, date and nuts products, although blending and packaging will continue to be carried out at Petrow’s Perivale site in West London. Groundnuts will also be processed exclusively at Perivale due to the site’s specially segregated facility.

Graham Davenport, sales and procurement director at Petrow Food Group, said: “The strategy for the new site is to provide increased production capacity to support growth within our ingredient product and contract packing business and to meet increased demand for our wide range of products.”

The new Haverhill site has been granted an ‘A’ rating certification from leading food safety standard BRC Global Standards, matching the standard of the Perivale facility, and both sites operate allergen-controlled and organic-approved environments.

The warehouse takes advantage of the Haverhill site’s proximity to Felixstowe Docks, which the company says brings significant cost and logistical benefits.