A BRIERLEY Hill food company that supplies supermarkets and restaurant chains is recruiting 130 full time staff.

Avara Foods has positions open across all operations at its site on Navigation Drive, including production, technical, engineering, planning and stores.

The factory, which previously operated five days a week, is now running seven days a week, following a huge increase in demand.

Production capacity has leapt 30 per cent and with the summer months particularly busy for Avara as the demand for barbecue foods increases, more staff are required to help it keep pace.

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Mick Hillson, site manager, said: “We’re well-established here in Dudley, and this latest recruitment drive is evidence of our ongoing commitment to the area.

"Our factory is very important to Avara’s wider operations, and I’m pleased we’re expanding.

"I look forward to welcoming new colleagues to our friendly and enthusiastic team as we continue to enjoy growth.

"We understand many people are facing uncertainty but want them to know with a variety of full and part-time positions, both permanent and temporary situations and a broad spectrum of roles available, we’re a local employer they can look to for a new opportunity.”

Avara said it "is a competitive employer, offering starting rates of pay above National Living Wage, whatever your age, and prides itself on being a company people want to work with and for. "With full training provided, and the chance to progress within the company during the busiest period in its history, there’s never been a better time to join Avara Foods.

"During these challenging times many British companies are reducing staff numbers, but Avara Foods is actively recruiting across its operations as demand for poultry products remains high. Chicken and turkey are staple products in many consumers’ weekly shops, and the company needs new colleagues at its Dudley site to help keep pace."

The company has invested more than £6 million in protective measures across its UK-wide operations, which also include a factory in Hortonwood, Hadley, Telford, to keep colleagues safe during the coronavirus pandemic.

These include screens and curtains installed along production lines to create physical barriers, floor markers in shared spaces to aid social distancing, and staggered shift start and finish times to reduce the number of staff coming into contact with one another.

Canteens and break areas have spaced out seating and perspex dividers and additional cleaning regimes have been enacted in high traffic areas and more hand sanitising stations installed across all sites. There is temperature checking of visitors, new starters and daily random temperature checking.

Visit www.avarafoods.co.uk/careers or email dudleyjobs@avarafoods.co.uk