Capri-Sun recently brought sales and distribution in-house after a long-term relationship with Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP).
To meet increased demand, the Princes contract with Capri-Sun will involve a transfer of four production lines from CCEP to Princes Bradford, creating around 50-60 new jobs.
Production will begin in autumn 2024, with all lines set to be fully operational by spring 2025.
Princes will be co-packing two Capri-Sun formats: 200ml pouches with paper straws and 330ml pouches with a screw cap.
As part of the transition, Capri-Sun is moving to recyclable pouches (kerbside for 330ml and at large supermarkets for 200ml) and also introducing tethered caps on the 330ml pouches, reducing packaging waste by 14%, to support its ambition of becoming the UK’s most sustainable children’s soft drinks brand.
Bradford is Princes Group’s largest soft drinks production site in the UK, with around 400 staff and eight production lines for dilutes, carbonates and ready-to-drink products.
The site is also a producer of customer own brand carbonated soft drinks and ready-to-drink small bottles.
Andy Hargraves, group commercial director for drinks at Princes, said: “Establishing this partnership is a significant milestone in the continued growth of our drinks business, creating around 50-60 new job opportunities in the local area. Princes is looking forward to partnering with Capri-Sun to support their ambitions now, and in the future.”
Stefan Seiss, Capri-Sun Group, said: “We are very excited to go into this collaboration between Princes and Capri-Sun. Over the last months the supply chain and engineering departments were working very closely together to prepare the transition of the production lines into the Bradford site. It is great to see that the expertise and the positive attitude on both sides will deliver a new production setup to fulfill the demand and the quality to support the growth of Capri-Sun in Great Britain.”
