Quorn to invest £7m in new global innovation centre

Quorn Foods has announced it is investing £7m in a new global innovation centre following strong financial results for the first half of the year.

Quorn Foods announced like-for-like sales of £112m for the first six months of the year, up 12% on the same period in 2017, and said it was still on track to become a "billion-dollar business" by 2027.

Quorn also announced that it would be opening a new Global Innovation Centre at its headquarters in Stokesley, North Yorkshire. The new facility will break ground at the end of this summer, and explore core protein fermentation and product innovation.

Around the world the meat-free category is growing rapidly, typically between 10% and 20%, and even a developed market like the UK is up 15%.

Quorn Foods chief executive Kevin Brennan said: "With category momentum we are confident we can become a $1b business in under 10 years. We are seeing lots of Silicon Valley investment and hype in this space but we have already built up 30 years of expertise in the meat-free category.

"With our renewed investment in R&D we expect to lead the way for decades to come. We hope to demonstrate that there are great British businesses in the North that can win on a global stage."

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