Heinz Tomato Ketchup to be made in Greater Manchester under planned £140m investment

Heinz’s tomato ketchup is set to make its long awaited comeback to Greater Manchester in a groundbreaking investment deal.

A £140 million investment in a Wigan factory could see the manufacturing of Heinz Tomato Ketchup and a selection of the brand’s other popular sauces – such as mayonnaise and salad cream – finally be brought back to the UK after being moved to Holland two decades ago.

Fifty new jobs are also set to be created as part of the proposals.

The Greater Manchester factory, located in Kitt Green in the Orrell area of Wigan, is already the largest food processing plant in Europe, with an estimated 1.3 billion cans of food being produced there every year.

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Speaking on the announcement of the potential investment, Luis Spinardi, Site Director at Kraft Heinz’s Kitt Green factory, said: “This is a very exciting time for Kitt Green and I am proud that the potential for the site to grow and modernise is being recognised.

“As a result of this proposed investment, we are now in the fortunate position where Kitt Green can become a much more modern facility and our teams will have the ability to adopt more contemporary ways of working whilst exemplifying the highest global standards for food manufacturing.

“Not only are we excited to be expanding our product mix by bringing sauces back to the UK but also look forward to a more efficient facility with a sustainable future.

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“Consumers remain at the centre of everything we do, and this was particularly evident during the pandemic [so] I would like to thank all our teams for their relentless dedication, commitment and resilience throughout the year helping to feed the nation.”

The proposed investment is subject to final US approvals from Kraft Heinz later in the year, but would be the biggest Kraft Heinz investment in over two decades for an existing manufacturing site outside of the US.