Insider Media Limited

A Smethwick bakery has revealed to Insider plans to expand its business with the addition of a distribution hub. Sunrise Bakery is set to grow as it prepares to introduce its products in up to 240 Tesco and Tesco Extra stores.

Managing director Errol Drummond said the £1.3m-turnover business had just signed a new deal with superstore Tesco to supply its range of Caribbean cakes and breads.

"We already distribute to about 60 Tesco stores," he said. "And we're hoping that number will quadruple over the coming year or so. We are currently arranging some additional logistical help to reach more Tesco outlets, and will be in more of them next month."

Drummond said the company was aiming to become the supermarket's primary supplier of Caribbean breads.

Sunrise Bakery was set up in 1966 to cater for the rapidly growing Caribbean population in and around Birmingham and the Black Country.

Drummond said the company was looking at 2012 as a year of expansion. With more than one million loaves produced every year, he added that the company was "reaching full capacity".

"We have several new product lines which we hope to launch in the next few months, and in the next year will be looking for an additional site within a mile of our current location, which would create new jobs," he said.

A new hub would become a dedicated distribution centre, he added.

The company, which employs 27 people at its manufacturing site, celebrates its 45th birthday this year.

Alongside its supply deal with Tesco, Sunrise Bakery also stocks its products with 250 independent retailers in the country and has been supplying to Asda for more than 14 years.

"We are in an industry which relies heavily on product development," said Drummond. "Throughout the recession and over the past year, that is what we have concentrated on. If we don't grow and innovate, retailers would become less interested in our stock."

The company's newest product is a rum cake, which was launched two weeks ago.

Sunrise Bakery delivers its products across the country, from Yorkshire down to London and the South East.