A DARTMOUTH firm is moving its entire workforce to a new £10m food factory in Plymouth as part of a major expansion project.

Dartmouth Foods will initially employ 150 people at its new plant at Langage science park, but the number is set to grow before the end of 2016.

Some of those posts will be filled by people relocating from the firm’s existing base at Townstal.

Dartmouth Foods, a specialist producer of smoked fish and poultry, has entered into a joint venture with the North­ampton­shire-baed Faccenda Foods Ltd company to produce cooked British duck products for a variety of shops and sandwich makers.

Dartmouth Foods managing director Nick Obolensky said all jobs were safe and staff would be moving with them.

‘Following significant investment in our new state- of-the-art cooking facility in Plymouth, we will be moving the majority of production, and jobs there at the end of Sept­ember, with the remainder to follow early in the new year. There will be no job losses and we have already made colleagues aware of the upcoming changes.

‘We have considered at great length alternative uses for the Dartmouth site as part of our business plan but regretfully none of the options have proved viable.

‘As a fully functioning food manufacturing facility, we are hopeful that it might be an attractive prospect for one of the many food production companies in the area looking to expand.’

Mr Obolensky added that most of the firm’s staff actually lived in Plymouth and the surrounding area so it was probably an advantage to them.

‘The move also enables us to expand and further recruit,’ he said. ‘We’re proud of our south west heritage and pleased to be bringing investment and consequently more jobs to the region.’

Dartmouth Foods has leased 30,000sq ft of space at Plymouth City Council’s £2.7m Hearder Court business park, just off the A38, and is creating a purpose-built factory. Production on chicken and turkey products is expected to start in September and December respectively.

‘It’s a model site for modern times,’ said Mr Obol­ensky. ‘We’ve built it to exacting environmental standards to keep the carbon footprint as low as possible and equipped it with the latest machinery to consistently and efficiently produce great tasting food.’

Nick’s brother and co-managing director Ed Obol­ensky said: ‘A joint venture with Faccenda makes perfect sense.

‘They grow and process the birds, our skill is in cooking them, and we can do it as part of the same supply chain. 

‘This means we’re efficient, traceable and unnecessary costs are kept out of the business.’

The second generation family business was founded in 1978 and its headquarters are in Nelson Road, Dartmouth.

In 2010 the company opened a distribution and storage base in Newton Abbot.

It employs more than 150 people across its two sites in Devon.

In March 2016, Dart­mouth Foods received a £652,912 investment from the South West Growth Fund. The cash came from a £1.9m pot designed to help firms expand and create jobs.

In 2014, Plymouth City Council began to develop Hearder Court, named after Plymouth scientist Jonathan Nash Hearder, at Langage Business Park.

Its speculative scheme was designed to attract employment and provide opportunities to existing and new businesses.

The buildings were completed in 2015 and the council signed a contract with Dartmouth Foods, which took all nine units in the first phase of the development, in January 2016.