European bakery products manufacturer Baker & Baker has invested £2.9 million in one of its American Bakery style cookie lines.

The manufacturer serves customers throughout the retail, foodservice and wholesale channels, producing cookies, cakes and doughnuts across its business.

The investment was made over a number of months to increase capacity and introduce new machinery to “improve the quality and output of the line” at its Wirral site.

New workspaces, including washrooms and sieving and de-boxing areas have been created on the factory floor. The machinery installed includes a wire cutter, mixer and mixing bowls and weighing hoppers.

At the end of January, two bulk silos were installed to complement the existing units on site, which contain bulk ingredients such as sugar and flour.

The investment will also see an upskilling of existing site teams to operate the new equipment, and eight new full-time positions have been created to manage the additional capacity.

John Lindsay, CEO at Baker & Baker, commented: “We have extensive capabilities in manufacturing cookies across a variety of flavours and formats, and we continue to see strong demand from customers in the UK and Europe for both our own-brand and licensed cookies.

“This investment was necessary to ensure we have the requisite capacity to service customers both now and in the future, whilst maintaining the quality of product that our consumers expect.”