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Sweet taste of success for Consett Popcorn Company following £150k backing

Consett Popcorn Company Limited (CPC), a Durham-based producer of gourmet popcorn, has quadrupled its turnover and created new jobs following a £150k investment.

Operating in a niche sector of the health food market, the firm produces gourmet savoury and sweet popcorn.

With a vision to manufacture and brand clean label popcorn, the business was founded by husband and wife duo Richard and Catherine Furze in 2009.

Investing £25k of their own money to support the firm’s growth in its first three years, the couple have been boosted by working capital from the North East Angel Fund, managed by Rivers Capital Partners.

Positioning themselves as a premium manufacturer the Furze family say their popcorn the is both wholesome and authentic without the use of flavour enhancers or chemically derived “natural” flavourings to produce a counterfeit taste.

Now Soil Association Accredited, following the investment from Rivers Capital in December 2014, CPC are now operating from a manufacturing facility in Consett, have scaled up their processes and purchased larger, more dynamic equipment to distribute their produce UK-wide as well as exporting to Holland.

Catherine Furze, Founder and Director at CPC said, “Most of our growth in the past couple of years has been in the organic sector, which has been very successful for us.”

Looking ahead, Rivers have introduced CPC to a Food industry expert to provide business support within this sector and align the company’s growth plans.

The initial funding was secured via the North East Angel Fund managed by Rivers Capital Partners.

Dr Michael Dickens, Fund Manager for the Angel Fund, led the investment via the fund’s core capital from the Finance for Business North East programme.

Jonathan Gold, Managing Director at Rivers, added: “With their success in the organic food sector we’re looking forward to watching CPC continue to thrive in this space. A great example to other North East entrepreneurs looking for funding to realise their growth plans.”

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