Enjays’ funding for new HQ

VISITORS to theme park Alton Towers and Madame Tussauds are tucking in to pancakes made in Yorkshire.

The business behind the pancakes, Enjays, has secured £500,000 investment which means it can create jobs by moving to new manufacturing and distribution headquarters based in Leeds.

The entrepreneurs behind the business, Neil Tipping and Jon White, met 11 years ago while they were studying at Leeds Metropolitan University.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

They opened Enjays in 2005 from a shop in Headingley, near Leeds.

Backed by a loan from NatWest and equity capital from a number of business angels, Enjays pancakes has been able to finance a 10,000 sq ft facility in south Leeds.

Craig Hindmarsh, who has managed a number of blue chip food manufacturing businesses, has joined the Enjays board to help it to expand.

Enjays supplies pancakes to more than 40 UK shops including Butlins and Merlin Entertainments Group, which operates Alton Towers and The Tussauds Group.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mr White said: “In the last few years opening retail outlets has been extremely difficult due to high start-up costs and low levels of lending.

“We considered all our options for growth and decided that developing a range of pancake products that use customers existing equipment for preparation was the best way to move things forward rapidly.”

The company is set to achieve turnover of £1m, and as a result of moving to the new facility, the company’s staff numbers are expected to rise from three to eight.