UNPRECEDENTED demand for frozen food is fuelling a major expansion by distribution giants Reed Boardall who are now expanding their North Yorkshire base to create the biggest and most modern cold store in the UK.

The company employs over 800 people at its Boroughbridge site on the A1 motorway. They say they're now ploughing ahead with pre Covid-19 plans to extend one of four massive cold stores on the 55 acre site. Despite tough trading conditions, intense competition and the uncertainty of the pandemic and Brexit the company revealed underlying turnover has increased nine per cent to £68.4m, with profits of £4.4m. This has been driven by higher volumes through its cold store and transport operation, along with rising use of ancillary blast freezing, picking and packing services.

Operating a fleet of 196 vehicles running 24 hours a day all year round Reed Boardall delivers 12,000 pallets of frozen food a day. It's among the largest temperature controlled food distribution businesses in the UK, storing and delivering frozen food from manufacturers across Britain, Europe and further afield to all of the UK’s leading supermarkets.

Chief Executive Marcus Boardall said: "We’ve operated in this specialist field for over 25 years and work with food processors and retailers throughout the country who rely on us to supply their product on time and in premium condition.

"Changes in consumer shopping habits have led to food companies needing a more responsive logistics partner in order to cost-effectively deliver little and often. Our single site business model has proved ideal for this, resulting in a growth in demand for our services and, therefore, the need to extend.

"2019 was particularly busy as we continued to support the growth of our customers, and we again put in a solid financial performance, seeing turnover grow. Having already decided that the time was right to invest in expanding our cold storage facility at Boroughbridge, we were committed to moving forward with the project, undeterred by the turmoil of the pandemic which put intense pressure on the logistics sector, 2020 was a stark reminder of how important it is to have a robust and responsive supply chain."

Finance director Sarah Roberts added: "Our latest financial results show a picture of strength and stability. While the company has remained resilient, we have battled tough trading conditions with fierce competition making it difficult to recover costs, particularly in the transport division. However, our ongoing focus on operating as efficiently as possible has delivered impressive results and put us on a sound footing for further expansion, despite the uncertainty of the pandemic and the unknown impact of Brexit.

"We are determined to ensure we have the capacity to cope with peaks in customers' needs and believe it's vital to invest in improving and expanding. Given the current situation, with unprecedented demand from consumers for frozen food, we are prepared for 2021 to be another extremely busy year and would like to thank our hard working team for pulling out all the stops to help customers keep the supermarket freezers full."