Funding boosts Cornish business celebrating 60 years.
Buttermilk, Bodmin
“We are absolutely delighted to have won this grant. This gives us the opportunity to make that step change for our team and for our business. It’s a fantastic opportunity which we really appreciate.” – Tracy McDonnell Goad, Managing Director/ Owner.
Jobs boost and expansion plans are in the pipeline after an award-wining Cornish confectioner secures investment of £852,573 from the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Good Growth programme.
Buttermilk, which began in 1964 with a shop in Padstow, is celebrating its 60th birthday and boasts a range of award-winning dairy-free chocolate bars stocked in wholesalers across the country and sold online.
Husband-and-wife team David and Tracy, who acquired the business in 2010, now have plans to consolidate and expand two production units onto one site at its Bodmin base after reports of 226% sales growth for its ‘plant-powered’ confectionery.
Tracy McDonnell Goad, Managing Director/ Owner, says: “In just the last year, the plant-based chocolate grew at 226%. The demand is growing, and we need to meet that.”
The Good Growth funding will go towards helping them create future jobs, upskill existing staff, double production capacity, install solar panels and get new machinery to help productivity.
Tracy McDonnell Goad, Managing Director/ Owner, says: “The Good Growth Fund has made our project possible, and this gives us a chance to accelerate our growth into export markets and bring that business here to Cornwall.
“The difference this is going to make is to the Real Living Wage and to training and development of our team. Ultimately, what we want to do is, give them the opportunity to better skills, better pay and we’re really, really delighted about that.”
Mike Smith, Marketing Director, says: “The Good Growth investment will really transform our business…”
David Goad, Innovation Director/ Owner, says: “The Good Growth Fund is enabling us to make investments in our sustainability plan.
“What we’re able to do now as a result of this investment from Good Growth Fund, is install equipment, which means going forward we are going to be consuming a lot less energy.”
For more information about Buttermilk visit the website.
This project is made possible thanks to a £852,000 investment from the Good Growth Programme funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.