Temporary workforce supplier puts £25,000 into sweet-firm training

Around 1,500 workers have undergone training at Tangerine Confectionery, the largest independent sugar confectionery manufacturer in Europe.

Gap personnel, the sole supplier of temporary workers to Tangerine Confectionery’s production sites, invested £25,000 in the training programme.

Tangerine Confectionery produces well-known brands such as Barratt Sherbet Fountain, Princess Marshmallows, Taveners and Butterkist Popcorn.

Workers at sites in York, Pontefract and Cleckheaton have completed courses to keep them informed about the latest food hygiene legislation.

Gap personnel, which is one of the UK’s fastest growing recruitment companies with a total turnover of more than £60m, provides a range of workers to Tangerine Confectionery’s seven sites.

These include production operatives, warehouse operators and packers. It also provides permanent staff including administrative workers, engineers and team leaders.

Mark Shortell, group HR manager for Tangerine Confectionery, said: “It is crucial that our workers are fully skilled and up to date with the latest regulatory requirements.”

Tangerine has grown substantially in the last two years. In February 2009 it acquired Monkhill Confectionery for £58m.

Last year, Tangerine revealed that it was set to cash in on the expatriate market in Australia after agreeing a major deal to supply supermarkets there.

It signed a distribution deal with Australian Bulk Foods to supply Taveners and Sherbert Fountain brands to leading supermarkets down under.

Tangerine did not reveal the value of the deal but the firm said its Australian exports would reach 70,000 cases of stock, including three million Sherbet Fountains annually.

Each case contains 48 individual packets of the sweets.