Morrisons invests £1.4m in new innovation centre at Greenside site in Bradford

A spokesman said: “Morrisons is proud to be a foodmaker as well as shopkeeper preparing and making more than half of the fresh food sold in its stores. The Greenside site is the UK’s largest fresh food factory producing bacon, quiches, pies, sausages, gammon, cooked meats and packed cheese.”

Rami Baitiéh, chief executive of Morrisons, said: “This new facility gives our team of chefs a space to create the high-quality, British products our customers want, using ingredients from our trusted farmers and growers.”

Bradford Council leader, Coun Susan Hinchcliffe, said: “We’re really proud that Bradford is the home of Morrisons and I really welcome this latest investment from the company in the city.

She added: “It’s a very well run operation and it’s great to see what care and thought they are putting into new product design at the Innovation Centre. It’s this kind of investment which will retain Morrisons place as a market leader.”

Mayor of West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin, said: “I welcome the investment Morrisons has made into the Greenside Innovation Centre, helping to bring new opportunities to Bradford.

"Morrisons is an important partner for Bradford and West Yorkshire and I will continue to support them to grow and succeed.”

The site has received significant investment in the past year, with an additional £6.6m being used in cheese automation technology; with a further £7m due to be invested this year in new sausage lines.

In July 2023, Morrisons rebranded its manufacturing business as Myton Food Group in honour of Myton Hall, the farm owned by the late Sir Ken Morrison, who oversaw the expansion of Morrisons into a national brand.

Headquartered in Bradford since 1899, Morrisons employs more than 100,000 staff in 497 Morrisons supermarkets and around 1,100 convenience stores, including 900 Morrisons Dailys.

Last month, Morrisons revealed that its sales had grown at the fastest rate for three years.

Morrisons said that group like-for-like sales, excluding fuel and VAT, rose by 4.6 per cent over the three months to January 28.

It compared with 0.1 per cent over the same quarter a year earlier, and 3.3 per cent in the previous quarter.

Total sales were up 3.9 per cent to £3.9bn for the period. The rise in sales comes amid a period of increases in food and drink prices although food inflation has slowed in recent months. Mr Baitieh, who took over at the private equity-owned retailer in September, said its “next chapter” is in “full swing”.

In January, the former Carrefour boss said Morrisons was developing plans to “reinvigorate, refresh and strengthen” the brand.