Eyemouth Freezers Limited

Name of organisation/business:

Funding:

£191,801 - Food Processing, Marketing and Cooperation scheme

Scottish Rural Development Programme priority:

Enhancing the rural economy

        Contact details: 
018907 51836
info@eyefreeze.co.uk

Website:

Eyemouth Freezers website

Location

Eyemouth

Berwickshire

The grant helped us to build up the company, increased the demand for our growers’ vegetables, allowed more value to be added to those vegetables and retained in the Borders and gave us a platform for the next stage of our development.
Quote source:
Eyemouth Freezers

What are the aims of your project?

The project was needed to remove limitations in our processing capability and to lay the groundwork for a future major increase in capability (which is just now being put in place).

How did your project achieve these aims?

Replace existing inadequate boiler
Construct a building to double the space available for storage of packaging materials and to permit palletainers to be constructed away from the factory floor
Install new refrigeration system for cold store with enhanced capacity and environmental credentials
Install other equipment ancillary to the above

Who's involved?

The project was the responsibility of and was managed by our then managing director Allan Jefferies. He delivered it successfully, on time and on budget.

How was the project funded?

The project was funded by grant (30%) and bank borrowings/cash generated in the business (70%).

The company has not paid any dividends but has reinvested all earnings in the business.

Where did you go for help and advice?

No formal outside advice was sought. Technical advice came from a number of potential suppliers. The application was put together and the project was managed in-house.

What has been your greatest achievement so far?

The project achieved its stated objectives of improving operating efficiency and enabling a modest improvement in processing output, enabling the company to survive in a very challenging market and lay the foundations for the major improvement project currently being undertaken. That is a huge success.

And the biggest challenge?

In practical terms the project was fairly straightforward. The major challenge was generating the necessary cash from the business and keeping the company’s borrowings under control – overcome by the normal mixture of persistence and luck.

What's next for your project?

We are most of the way through installing a major upgrade of our main processing facility which will deliver a 50% increase in capacity, a transformed food hygiene environment, at least a 25% improvement in efficiency of resource use and the possibility of broadening our product range to include the processing of ‘meat-free’ protein foods.

Beyond that we hope to increase out retail packing capability by 40% - 50% within 12 months before trying to save hard for a new cold store. All this is necessary (but challenging to fund) against a background of persistent price deflation of 3% - 4% per annum.