Bakkavör Desserts is to hire 160 extra staff members to help meet demand following an increase in sales.

The Newark-based company, which supplies a number of products, including cream cakes, pastries and savoury items to supermarkets such as Asda, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons, will hire the full-time permanent food handlers to create cream cakes.

The new employees will join an existing workforce of more than 1,400 at the Newark Industrial Estate premise, which typically produces 800 million profiteroles, 80 million éclairs, 40 million egg custards and 20 million bowl trifles per year.

“Now is a really exciting time for Bakkavör Desserts Newark as we continue to grow from strength-to-strength and this is demonstrated by the sheer scale of our recruitment drive,” said Caron Brooks, head of HR for desserts.

“The diverse range of roles we have available provides people in the local area with a great opportunity to work in the fast-moving and exciting fresh prepared foods industry. We look forward to welcoming new people to our team.”