Jacksons Bakery owner William Jackson Food Group (WJFG) has acquired foodservice ingredients business Wellocks.

Lancashire-based Wellocks, which employs around 470 people nationwide, sources and supplies ingredients for chefs, including fruit, vegetables, dairy, poultry, meat and store cupboard essentials.

The deal comes two weeks after WJFG sold its Aunt Bessie’s brand to Nomad Foods for around £210m.

WJFG chief executive Norman Soutar said he had admired the Wellocks business for many years.

“Wellocks has enjoyed recent growth and has really exciting potential for the future with great customers and really innovative suppliers.” he added. “We’re looking forward to helping the business grow and develop in the future.”

“The group remains very focused on having a portfolio of great food businesses and this is an important acquisition for us, replacing the Wigan salad processing business we sold to Agrial a year ago.”

Wellocks MD James Wellock said it would be “business as usual” in terms of the day-to-day running of the operation.

“The difference is that we now have a business behind us which has even more knowledge and experience of the food industry and is able to invest in the long-term future of Wellocks and everyone who works here.”

WJFG also owns grocery delivery business Abel & Cole, The Food Doctor and MyFresh.

Late last year, Yorkshire-based Jacksons announced it was investing £40m in a second factory to supply bread for sandwich manufacturers.