Premier Foods has unveiled a three-year, £19m investment programme in Ambrosia to ramp up custard production, slash energy costs and free up capacity for its expanding porridge pot business.
Having already invested £9m since 2023 in new custard filling and high-speed packing lines, Premier will now put £10m into building a custard plant at Ambrosia’s Lifton site in Devon.
Due for completion by the end of summer 2026, the upgrades will create enough production capacity for Ambrosia to produce an additional 10 million porridge pots each year, while significantly ramping up custard and rice pudding production.
The new custard filling line and high-speed packing lines will also cut energy use 50% compared with traditional cooking methods, and allow Ambrosia to transition its custard and rice pudding pots to recyclable packaging.
The Lifton site uses over 50 million litres of milk from West Country farms each year, producing 65 million kilos of custard and rice pudding each year.
Premier Foods Lifton’s factory general manager, Rachel Matheson, said the investment showed Premier’s commitment to keeping manufacturing in the UK.
“Ambrosia is one of Britain’s most loved food brands, and we’re proud to keep making it right here in Devon,” she said.
“The porridge pots have been a huge hit, and it’s great to see how success like this enables us to reinvest in the site, back into our teams and in increased capacity. Our site has been part of the Lifton community for over 100 years and we’re just as excited about what’s coming next.”
Premier employs 320 staff at the 527,000 sq ft Lifton factory.
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