Yorkshire food company invests £1.5m into new machines as vegan demand increases

A Yorkshire food company is beefing up its machinery in response to heightened demand for its vegan products.

Sausage and burger company HECK! Food has announced that it is investing £1.5m into new production machinery, on the back of huge demand for its vegan and chicken products at the beginning of 2020.

The company launched four new vegan ranges into the UK high street in January, including its first meat-free sausage.

It’s now upgrading its vegan factory with a £500k investment, as well as installing a £1m robotic chicken sausage making machine at its sausage factory.

HECK!‘s co-founder and sales director, Jamie Keeble, said: “We are the UK’s fastest growing vegan brand and the vegan sector will be 30 per cent of business this year, mainly export.

“We are literally taking HECK! round the world to the Middle and Far East, US and across Europe, hence the £500k investment into new equipment making production more efficient.

“We are also seeing a real growth in the ‘megan’ market – flexitarian - as people look at introducing more plant-based food into their diet and also different types of meat, such as chicken.

“We now sell more chicken than pork sausages and the new robotic chicken line will increase production capacity and enable us to produce over one million sausages a day.”