Heler Foods has announced a £25 million investment into its cheesemaking operations at Heler Foods Creamery in Nantwich.
The company says the investment is one of the most significant technological upgrades in the UK dairy sector in recent years.
The family-owned business in Hatherton will install a new cheesemaking plant featuring two high speed pasteurisers, eight state-of-the-art cheese vats, and a new cheddar belt system.
It will increase the creamery’s annual production capacity to 38,000 tonnes.
And the company will partner with Tetra Pak to become the first creamery in Northern Europe to implement Tetra Pak’s new Factory OS platform across its cheesemaking operation.
The new facility is scheduled to be commissioned in January 2028.
The investment follows a significant period of expansion across the wider Heler Foods group.
This includes a major recent investment into Heler Foods Packing, the group’s specialist cheese packing facility in North Wales.
George Heler said: “This investment underlines our long term commitment to British cheesemaking.
“As a family business now in its third generation, we have always believed in reinvesting back into the future of the company and continuing to push forwards. This latest investment is another major step in that journey.
“We are incredibly excited to be partnering with Tetra Pak on what will become one of the most advanced and technologically sophisticated cheese plants in Europe.
“The implementation of Factory OS will place us at the forefront of cheese quality, consistency, and process control within the industry.
“As consumer expectations continue to evolve, precision in cheesemaking becomes increasingly important, particularly within healthier and functional cheese products.
“With the strong growth we are experiencing with flagship high protein brand Eatlean Protein, having world class process control and consistency is more important than ever.
“This investment gives us the platform to continue innovating and growing for decades to come.”
Katrin Andersson, managing director North Europe at Tetra Pak, said: “By investing in our Tetra Pak® Factory OS™ ️system, Heler Foods is putting itself at the cutting edge of high performing equipment and AI-driven manufacturing.
“The Heler family’s heritage in cheesemaking is now combined with the very latest in Tetra Pak’s automation and digitalisation capabilities.
“We firmly believe this will transform Heler Foods’ Nantwich creamery into one of the most advanced in Europe.
“For our part, we’re excited to see the huge benefits this latest chapter of our longstanding relationship with Heler Foods brings to its production process in terms of efficiency, growth and quality.”
The investment forms part of Heler Foods’ wider growth strategy and investment in modern, efficient, and sustainable dairy manufacturing in the UK.
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