Food delivery group wins £150m holiday parks deal
Black Country food delivery group Blakemore has won a £150m deal to supply Butlins holiday resorts and Haven caravan parks in the UK.
The five-year deal will see another 20 workers recruited at its Darlaston base and more than £1 million spent on new vehicles. Blakemore Foodservice is the delivery arm of Willenhall's A F Blakemore & Son cash-and-carry, delivery and Spar stores group.
A family business, the group employs more than 7,900 people and has a turnover in excess of £1.2 billion.
The Foodservice arm employs 240 people at Darlaston, which will be the heart of the new contract supplying a range of foods to restaurants and hotels owned by the Bourne Leisure Group, which owns Butlins, Haven Holidays and Warner Leisure Hotels. Blakemore's smaller Wakefield site will also be involved in the work.
Blakemore Foodservice sales & marketing director Jim Dudley said: ''The Bourne Leisure contract is an exciting and significant win for the business, which will see investment made in additional vehicles and recruitment of new staff to work within the operation.
"We currently employ 240 people at Darlaston and 76 at Wakefield. For this contract we will be employing an additional 25 people consisting of drivers, warehouse staff and administration staff - 20 of which will be at Darlaston."
