A MALTON company is advertising for 100 new staff as part of a significant expansion.

Pro-Pak Foods Ltd, located on the York Road industrial estate on the outskirts of Malton, is a creator of ready meals which already employs more than 400 people.

Each week, the business currently creates hundreds of thousands of ready meals based around approximately 200 different recipes.

Following a number of different projects, it has now finalised the securing of a new contract - with an unnamed client - which it says will prompt significant growth.

This will mean it will need to create an additional 110,000 meals per week, with the new products will launch at the end of September.

This has resulted in the need to recruit about 100 people into various food manufacturing roles, including operatives, team leaders, chefs, fork lift truck drivers and many more, with, the company says, progression and training opportunities for the right people.

Jon Guest, managing director of Pro-Pak Foods, said: “We’re delighted to enter a period of real growth for the business, allowing us to continue our development plans and investments for the site and staff.

“A huge part of this success is attributable to our staff and their ability to create award-winning meals in a hugely competitive market.

“Pro-Pak is committed to supporting job growth in the local Malton community, as well as looking to support personal development as the business expands.”

Pro-Pak Foods is a local business established about 20 years ago which has grown significantly over the past two decades.

It forms part of the Tönnies Group, which is a leading global multi-tier food business that is active in four divisions: meat, convenience, ingredients and logistics. Tönnies is based in Germany with more than 10,000 employees, 25 international offices and an annual turnover of six billion euros.

The recruitment drive will provide a further boost to regional job-seekers in a market that is already seeing low unemployment levels.

The latest figures from the Department for Work and Pensions, released on July 16, revealed that nationally, the UK’s unemployment rate remains at its lowest since 1974 at 3.8 per cent, with female unemployment reaching a new record low of 3.6 per cent.

In the Yorkshire and Humber region, the number of people claiming unemployment has increased slightly in the last year but generally has fallen by around a third in the last five years.