A dairy factory inspired by a New Zealand entrepreneur is being built on the outskirts of Norwich to produce a new gourmet yoghurt range for the UK market. Little Melton Gourmet Yogurt will be operational by the end of April.

The company behind the venture – Tasman Dairy Producers – was aided in setting up the new factory by East of England Inward Investment (EEII), which is funded by EEDA.

The recipe has been brought to the UK by food entrepreneur Mark Collins from New Zealand’s best selling Piako yoghurt brand, currently owning third place in the gourmet food category of New Zealand.

The new facility, enabled by a £500,000 investment, will result in around 10 jobs in the first nine months and a further eight soon after. The yoghurt will be sold by Harrods as well outlets across East Anglia.

Mark Collins, Little Melton’s general manager (UK) said: “The origination of food is very important to people nowadays, and that’s the reason why we’ve chosen to name our product Little Melton Gourmet Yogurt – we want it to reflect where it is manufactured, and the area into which we’ve made our investment.

“We believe the UK market has enormous potential for our product so we made the decision to set up a facility here and the site offered everything that we needed, with good transport links and effective support networks. The help we were given by East of England Inward Investment was invaluable.”

EEII helped to search for potential sites, including organising viewings, and assistance in securing the lease for the Little Melton site. It was also instrumental in investigating the local labour force, transport infrastructure, the local supply chain and supplying information on bank contacts, salary and living costs, local rental accommodation for new staff, and PR and marketing

Jacky Holtby, business development manager from EEII said: “EEII has worked alongside Mark Collins from the very start to ensure the company had access to everything they needed and the transition from New Zealand to Norfolk has been very smooth.

“We will continue to support the business moving forward, through introductions to relevant networks and further business development opportunities.”

Norfolk County Council, in partnership with South Norfolk District Council, also provided important support for the New Zealand Piako yoghurt recipe to move and rebrand to a UK audience in Norfolk. The teams’ local knowledge of the area and the county’s food industry, business rates and employment information, for example, proved useful in helping the company decide that Norfolk was the best place to invest in a new facility.

Derrick Murphy, leader of Norfolk County Council, said: “I’m confident the arrival of Piako’s recipe to the Little Melton factory will not only strengthen the county’s excellent reputation for producing delicious food, but also reinforce our credentials as a thriving place to do business.”

Family owned Piako Gourmet Yoghurt was launched in New Zealand in November 2008 and quickly became one of the country’s top sellers.