Stacey’s Bakery has revealed plans to invest in new bakery equipment at its main site in South Street, Ilkeston.

The company will use the funds to purchase a flow wrapper machine and a new rack oven, as well as a depositor to produce cakes, tarts and puddings as part of its contract with George’s Kitchen.

The investment has been aided by a government scheme called Food Enterprise Advisory Support Team, known as a Feast grant, which helps small to medium-sized food and drink businesses implement their medium- and long-term business growth plans.

As part of its growth plans, Stacey is in the process of buying the Bath Street and Eastwood shops, which were previously owned by his grandfather and went into his trust following his death.

A total of £180,000 will be invested in buying the equipment and the shops in Bath Street and Eastwood.

“At the moment, thousands of products, such as brioche buns, are wrapped and packed manually by hand, which is time-consuming,” said Stacey’s bakery owner David Stacey.

“The new flow wrapper machine will speed up the process, wrapping 15-dozen cobs a minute. The fastest this has been done manually by us is eight-dozen in three-and-a-half minutes.”