AN ambitious Cheshire-based flavourings manufacturer is eyeing up the international market with plans to open a facility in the United States next year.

JPL Flavours in Neston develops natural and bespoke flavours for food and drinks, including vegan croissants and sausages to alcoholic beverages, as well as personal care products such as lip balms and edible face masks.

The fast-growing company employs 27 staff and has experienced strong year-on-year growth since it was founded by flavourist Jake Lavelle in 2015, and is on target to reach revenues of £6.5m this year – up from £4.9m in 2020.

Operating from a large facility on Clayhill Industrial Estate, the business is also building an 18,000 sq ft warehouse this summer, creating a further five roles.

The recent expansion follows support from GC Business Growth Hub, part of The Growth Company and part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund, and additional support from Cheshire and Warrington Growth Hub.

Jake realised early on that for continued development and to win contracts from big brands he needed to ensure the business had the right food safety accreditations and operational systems in place.

Through the Hub’s Manufacturing Growth Fund, JPL Flavours received initial support to achieve the highest AA rating from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) Global Standard.

After recently building a new 24,000 sq ft powder room to meet growing demand from sports nutrition brands, Jake received further support from the Manufacturing Growth Fund to plan, design and implement two new high hygiene clean room production areas within the current factory layout.

As a result of the support, JPL Flavours recently won an £800,000 contract with a major sport nutrition brand.

Jake said: “We found massive success with the business from the start and over the years we have had to take on more space at our facility as we’ve expanded.

"The business has been its busiest recently and Covid hasn’t slowed us down as more food and drinks brands are approaching us, and we’re also finding a strong demand in the sports nutrition market.

“From the start we realised that to work with the bigger brands we needed the right food safety accreditation.

“Through the Hub’s Manufacturing Growth Fund, we were able to get support to achieve the BRC Gold Standard Accreditation achieving an AA rating. This kick-started our business as it meant we were able to approach the large food and drinks manufacturers.”

Jake added: “Our long-term ambition is to become a global business. We have a good relationship with Russia where we have a distributor in place. We also have some overseas clients but ideally, we would like to open a USA facility in 2022.”

Phil Anders, the Hub’s Manufacturing Advisor for Liverpool City Region, Warrington and Cheshire, said: “The BRC accreditation has accelerated JPL Flavours and helped the business to overcome the barriers and challenges to meet the criteria of a larger supply chain.

“I have known Jake for several years and he is one of the most innovative and creative entrepreneurs we are working with.

“He has built a new state-of-the-art facility that has taken the business from a start-up to one that has global plans, and I am confident Jake and his team will realise their ambitions.

“This is a local business employing local people and I’m happy that we were able to support them through the Manufacturing Growth Fund.”