Scottish bakery Stephens plans to expand its chain of shops and fleet of snack vans after moving into a custom-built £4.5m bakery.

Located on the outskirts of Dunfermline, the new 38,000sq ft site replaces Stephens’ previous 7,000sq ft premises in the town centre. Managing director André Sarafilovic told British Baker that capacity at the new site could support turnover of £15m compared to £5.5m at the previous bakery.

The firm has invested heavily in new equipment, including mixers, retarders and a stress-free line for handling high moisture doughs for artisan breads such as ciabatta.

“We plan to expand all three strands of our business – franchised shops, our own retail outlets and the Stephens Direct snack vans, which service the lunch trade at offices and other work sites,” said Sarafilovic. “We are also looking to develop new product lines, such as artisan breads on our stress-free line.”

Stephens currently has 28 franchised shops and 12 of its own in Fife, plus a fleet of seven snack delivery vans. The new bakery, which Stephens moved to on 3 November, also houses a shop, butchery department and kitchen for making soup.