Minister for Business Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys; Kevin Buckley, manager, Food FDI Europe, Enterprise Ireland; and Mark McCaffrey, company spokesperson, Crust & Crumb at the announcement in July of plans to build new state-of-the-art factory in Ballyconnell. Plans for the facility

Plans lodged for €5m Crust & Crumb facility

Seamus Enright

Published: Sat 15 Sep 2018, 8:03 AM

An application for planning permission has been lodged in respect of a new €5m chilled foods factory in west Cavan.
Manufacturer of private label chilled pizzas, pizza bases and flat breads, Crust & Crumb Ltd, which is operated by Fermanagh businessman Mark McCaffrey, already employs 225 people at two sites in Derrylin. They now plan to add a further 150 to their workforce, including 80 ‘highly skilled’ positions at a new plant in nearby Ballyconnell.
The application, lodged with the planning section of Cavan County Council last week, is for the change of use of an existing building at Annagh near Ballyconnell Town.
Previously approved as eight industrial/commercial/retail/office units, the application is to form a food production, storage and distribution facility. The works will include alterations to the floor plans and elevations including new signage, the provision of two floor silos, along with connection to existing services and associated site works.
The application also seeks permission to retain alternations to previously approved floor plans namely demolition of dividing walls between units 2-4 and 6-8, and creation of new openings in existing walls between units 1-2 and units 4-6.
A decision on the application is due at the end of next month.
At the time of the jobs announcement, Mr McCaffrey said the move was so to secure a foothold south of the Border ahead of the March 2019 Brexit deadline.
He also expressed hopes the Ballyconnell business, should there be no planning hitches, would be operational by December 2018.
The Ballyconnell facility will service European and emerging markets in the Middle East; while the existing Derrylin factories would continue to feed into the UK market demand.
The EU market for chilled pizza is currently worth an estimated €1.98 billion, with 6.6% or €130 million in growth expected by 2020.
Crust and Crumb envisage “rapid expansion” in the next six to eight months, and the Ballyconnell plant will play a key role in delivering on that.
The Crust and Crumb investment is supported by Enterprise Ireland, and Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys was on hand earlier this year to welcome the jobs announcement.