Construction company Clegg Food Projects has been appointed as principal contractor to deliver the UK’s largest fresh pasta manufacturing facility for booming direct to consumer fresh pasta brand Pasta Evangelists.
Located in Park Royal in central London, the project – which is the former Jack Wills head office and warehouse – will see the food and drink construction specialists convert the building into a high-care fresh pasta and sauce facility.
The project comes after a period of successful growth for Pasta Evangelists, as demand for its products rises and it expands into new channels following its sale to Barilla in 2021.
Clegg Food Projects will oversee the design and build of the new internal space, with plans to install state-of-the-art equipment that will transform the current warehouse into a high-end commercial food processing, packaging and storage facility with distribution space.
Oliver Jenkins, business development manager at Clegg Food Projects, said: “We are really pleased to be working with Pasta Evangelists – it is an exciting company with some ambitious growth plans.
“The new facility will undergo a transformation into a best in class high-care food manufacturing facility along with advanced processing packaging and distribution.
“The demolition has now started, and we are set up onsite. We are working closely with Pasta Evangelists and the rest of the team on the first stages, with the new facility set to complete next year.”
Pasta Evangelists was famously turned down by Dragon’s Den in 2018 but has since gone from strength to strength. After a period of rapid growth, the company now has a large customer base up and down the UK, delivering more than one million portions of pasta last year.
Alessandro Savelli, founder and Managing Director at Pasta Evangelists, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Clegg Food Projects to build the UK’s biggest fresh pasta factory. The plan from the outset has been to design the site with innovation in mind, so we can start experimenting with even more exciting, differentiated flavours and gourmet ingredients to delight and inspire our customers.
“By investing in the latest pasta and cooking technology from Italy, we will be able to enhance the quality of our recipes and create a real step-change in our mission to redefine and elevate pasta in the UK. We can’t wait to get started!”