A Leicestershire food wholesaler is creating room for 150 jobs at a new Derby base.
Loughborough-based Ocean King is investing £5 million buying a 28,000 sq ft storage facility currently being built to the south of the city which should be ready this December.
The independent business is owned and run by managing director Steven Thai and his family and supplies fresh and frozen food to the restaurant trade across the UK. In recent months it has been hiring to meet rapid growth, and the new premises will be triple the size of its current HQ.
Mr Thai said: "Having just celebrated our 25th anniversary this year, Ocean King are incredibly excited to be coming to Derby.
“On top of our established food service business, our investment of £5 million in this brand-new premises will allow us to actuate our dreams of having a state-of-the-art well-being centre for our employees and also a business hub bringing together like-minded people.
“This move will open up 150 jobs for the people of Derby; we will be employing a full team ranging from senior leaders to forklift drivers and HGV drivers.
“From our humble beginnings as Vietnamese immigrants, we are proud of this achievement and look to continue to "create opportunities and enrich the lives" of all those associated with Ocean King."
Back in February Mr Thai said management had been forced to go back onto the shop floor because of a pressing labour shortage, partly caused by restrictions on free movement imposed under the UK Government’s Brexit plans. Many EU workers also returned home during the pandemic and didn’t come back.
He said the crisis got so bad over Christmas that senior executives, including Mr Thai and his brothers, had to roll up their sleeves and drive forklifts late into Christmas Eve to fulfil orders on time.
The new property occupies the last plot of the Victory Park industrial development with Derby-based Salloway Property Consultants acting on behalf of developer Revelan Group to broker the deal. It will see Ocean King join other tenants including Scitek, Grady Joinery, Gardner Aerospace, Seamers Specialist Joinery, Western Power Distribution and Intertek NDT.
The new building will have two storey offices and warehouse accommodation with refrigerated and frozen cold storage, together with parking for 50 vehicles as well as space for loading and vehicle manoeuvring.
Paul Doolan, director of construction and property development at Revelan Group, said: "We are pleased to be working with Ocean King on their bespoke new premises in Derby, where our contractor Amphion Construction are already making good progress on the building".
Hugo Beresford, a surveyor at joint agent Salloway Property Consultants, said: "It has been a pleasure to help put this deal together, but it is bittersweet to have disposed of the final unit on the scheme.
“We received a good level of interest in the unit, which was being built out speculatively by the client, and I'm delighted that we were able to agree sale terms with Ocean King during the construction process, enabling them to have a say in the final specification and configuration of the property.
“The result is a high-quality bespoke facility that I'm sure will serve their business operations and plans for growth over the years to come."
