Approved Foods announces expansion plans following £150k investment

Yorkshire-based online food supplier Approved Food has tripled its premises, embarked on a recruitment drive and invested in new equipment following a funding boost from UK Steel Enterprise and HSBC.

Approved Food, which primarily sells grocery products online, has received investment worth £70k from UK Steel Enterprise, a subsidiary of Tata Steel.

The firm has received a further £180k from HSBC and it is now forecasting growth of around 20% for 2014.

The company recently launched a new Equity Growth Fund to provide up to £1 million of finance to rapidly growing businesses.

The investment has allowed Approved Food to relocate from its Dinnington premises to larger headquarters on Parkway Close, Sheffield.

The business currently employs over 50 members of staff, many of whom are relocating from the previous site in North Anston, and this latest investment will see the company further recruit – creating job opportunities for people living in and around Sheffield.

Director Andy Needham, said: “It became clear that we were outgrowing our previous premises due to the increased demand for our services and products, and that in order to further grow the Approved Group we needed more space, more equipment and more people.

“Thanks to the financial support from UK Steel Enterprise we were able to realise our ambition of moving to larger premises – giving us the space and capacity to not only grow Approved Food, but also to launch a number of new on-line sites over the next few weeks.”

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