Yorkshire proves the ideal location for innovative cereal producer

An award-winning cereal manufacturer has opened a production facility in Yorkshire with a £750,000 investment from Finance Yorkshire.

Spoon Cereals specialises in high quality, nutritious granola and porridge with a focus on ‘better’ – tasting, for consumer health and for the planet.

The company’s products are stocked by Waitrose, Ocado and Morrisons. It has won nationally accredited Great Taste Awards for its granola.

Launched in 2013 in North West London, Spoon Cereals previously outsourced its production. It has chosen to open its first in-house production facility at Shortwood Business Park, Barnsley.

Finance Yorkshire is the lead investor in an investment round totalling more than £1 million. Chairman Justin Cook, former CEO of Müller Yogurts & Desserts, is also an investor.

Finance Yorkshire’s investment from its growth fund is supporting Spoon Cereals’ development of its 11,000 sq ft factory in Barnsley enabling it to create jobs, grow its customer base and innovate new products.

The factory’s location was selected by Spoon Cereals because of its closeness to the M1 motorway network, making it ideal for distribution as well as a key partner in the Enterprising Barnsley business community.

Jonny Shimmin and Annie Morris founded Spoon Cereals with a desire to make breakfast better and healthier, an ethos that continues to sustain the business today. The company’s success was initially fuelled by BBC Dragons’ Den investors.

Jonny said: “It’s always been our ambition to manufacture ourselves because of the control it gives us over our supply chain and quality of our products. Locating to Barnsley gives us so many strengths in terms of logistics and being part of the established food manufacturing sector in South Yorkshire.

“Recruitment was also a key factor in our decision to find the perfect location and South Yorkshire was right for us.”

Spoon Cereals has hired 10 people to date and expects to add another 10 to its headcount in the next 12 months.

Consumer demand is driving the company’s ambition to extend its production facility and add to its core cereal range as well as partnering with regenerative oat producers to develop co-branded products.

Jonny added: “We are addressing the key trends in breakfast retail at the moment for tasty, quality products delivered with regenerative ingredients which demonstrate sustainability in our production processes.”

Finance Yorkshire chief executive Alex McWhirter said: “Spoon Cereals is a fast-growing player in the breakfast retail market. Its decision to locate to Barnsley demonstrates the strength and breadth of the food manufacturing sector in South Yorkshire and the food-related innovation being led by the region’s education establishments.

“Finance Yorkshire is delighted to support Spoon Cereals in the next chapter of its development, adding to the growth of the regional economy and creating sustainable employment.”