New factory to open in Ballyconnell

Several dozen jobs are to be announced with news that a new factory is to open in Ballyconnell.

The “highly-skilled” jobs announcement at 'Crust & Crumb', which already has an operation based in Derrylin, Co Fermanagh, will be formally welcomed by Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys at an event later this week.

The Anglo-Celt understands Crust & Crumb have sealed a deal to obtain warehousing and factory space at Ballyconnell Commercial Park.

Media have been invited to attend the announcement, which takes place on Friday morning, July 27.

Ireland’s largest manufacturer of chilled and frozen commercial and gluten free dough-based products, Crust and Crumb specialises in producing own-label Pizza Bases, Topped Pizzas and Flatbreads. All pizzas are hand-stretched, topped with quality ingredients from local suppliers and the company exports product across Ireland, the UK and around the world.

In 2014 Crust & Crumb signed a £1 million deal to supply Musgrave Retail Partners in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic with a new premium range of stone-baked pizza.

Technically considered a Foreign Direct Investment, the move is being supported by Enterprise Ireland, with Kevin Buckley, Manager of Food FDI Europe with Enterprise Ireland also expected to be in attendance at the announcement.

The Crust & Crumb factory investment is a further addition to what is a burgeoning agri-food and food production industry in the region, across a range of sectors and estimated to worth hundreds of millions to the economy annually.