UK retailer Morrisons is to acquire its first banana-ripening site at Boston, Lincolnshire.
The acquisition is a joint venture with Global Pacific, an established trading partner of Morrisons.
The nine-year-old 58,000 square foot Lincolnshire factory was owned by Del Monte until November 2011, when it ceased operation.
The opening of the Lincolnshire site in Boston will create up to 80 new jobs in the area when the site becomes operational in the autumn. Global Pacific will run the site on behalf of Morrisons.
According to Morrisons, the acquisition will help Morrisons to offer 'improved quality and consistency', as well as allowing the retailer to take greater control of the bananas' maturity. 'Controlling the process will allow Morrisons to ripen the fruit slower, meaning it is sweeter and lasts longer in the home', the retailer said.
"Bananas are the most popular fruit in the UK so it makes sense for Morrisons to apply its unique approach to food production to simplify the supply chain, cut out costs and improve quality," Dalton Philips, chief executive at Morrisons said.
"Adding this ripening factory to our business means we will be able to mature bananas more precisely to our customers different needs."
The acquisition of this banana facility is the sixth addition to Morrisons' manufacturing business since 2010, following on from its estalishment of meat factories in Deeside and Winsford, a produce site in Worsley, FlowerWorld in Derby and a fish factory at Grimsby.
© 2013 - ESM: European Supermarket Magazine by Ellen Lunney
