A £750,000 extension was recently unveiled at the purpose-built Bradford headquarters of the Dalesman Group to enable it and its customers to create even more ingredient varieties to satisfy people’s ever-changing tastes.

The new area includes a new development kitchen and pilot plant and is part of a 3,000 sq ft extension,which also includes a presentation room, IT centre, boardroom and meeting rooms.

Dalesman said the new area would create closer working with its customers to develop bespoke products, which account for around 75 per cent of its business. The business has also expanded its technical team to ten people with two new trainees.

It’s a far cry from the origins of this family-run private business which started in 1979 in 1,500 sq ft of rented space at an old mill in Idle – without even a telephone.

“Natural born salesman” the late Gordon Rhodes and son Ian, the current managing director, launched Gordon Rhodes & Son (still the core business of Dalesman which is a brand) after becoming dissatisfied with their respective jobs.

“Dad decided to use his sales skills and extensive contacts in the food industry and was determined to provide the best service and goods to his customers. That’s still our commitment and drives everything we do,” said Ian, who left his sales job with Nestle to join his father in business.

The pair, supported by Ian’s mother Gwynneth, started selling products such as rusks and sausage casings, mainly to independent butchers.

They then came up with the idea of making a complete mix of herbs, spices and other key ingredients to which butchers needed only to add meat and water whereas previously they had to stock up to 35 ingredients.

Initially production was contracted out until the Rhodes’ bought their first mixer in 1985, laying the foundations of what has become the UK’s second largest independent seasonings and flavourings supplier with 98 employees and a turnover of around £15 million.

“It was a steep learning curve once we started producing ourselves. We have gone from being novices to masters in the years since,” said Ian, whose three children James, Benjamin and Charlotte are all now directors and full-time employees of the business.

The journey from the Idle mill has involved moving around Bradford to ever larger premises. The owned building was a 6,000 sq ft site in Buttershaw before Dalesman expanded into 14,000 sq ft of space on the Euroway trading estate.

The current site on Chase Way, near the M606 Staygate roundabout, opened in 2005, is 40,000 sq ft. It was designed to Dalesman’s specification to meet food hygiene regualtions and provide efficient production,warehousing and distribution.

The Rhodes’ are committed to remaining in the Bradford area as the business grows further but as the site reaches capacity options will include finding a second site nearby or transferring warehousing elsewhere to create more production space.

Ian said: “This site is regarded as top of the tree by people in the industry. Our target has always been to be the best. There’s no point in being number two. I can remember when dad saw this site he was amazed at how far we had come. He never thought the business would grow to this size.”

New product development remains a priority for Dalesman which is why the business invested heavily in the new development area.

Its best-selling range has gone from just six varieties to more than 260 and Dalesman has around 8,500 recipes in total.

The new pilot plant has been kitted out with processing equipment to simulate small-scale production operations, which allows small producers to mock-up a processing line and develop flavours and functions suited to their needs. “If they want something unique, we will work with them to create that. We can go down to quite low levels of orders and have a technical team which can work with processors and butchers on trial products and support them all the way through from new product development to quality assurance specification.

“It will also bring its customers’ bespoke products to market more quickly by slashing the time taken to develop new ideas,” said Ian.

The recent investment reflects Rhodes’ determination to constantly plough profits back into the business .

“It’s always been our philosophy,” said Ian. “In the early days I used to complain about driving around in an old Ford Escort when my opposite numbers at other companies were driving swish cars. We’re still here and thriving while many of those other companies have gone.”

Dalesman’s production is completely transparent with every stage of the computerised process recorded. It shows who puts an order on the system, who mixed it, who packed it and who delivered it to the customer.

“Continuous improvement teams” operate across the board and not just in food safety.

The group also has an IT subsidiary TDG to provide software for its production systems.

Ian said: “Currently TDG is for our own purposes but in a few years time we’ll be able to sell software to the industry as well. Very few companies have this. We’re undergoing a massive rewrite of the system to make our processes even better. Technology has moved on, so we will be using tablets and scanners rather than paper in the factory which will become fully electronic.”

Independent butchers remain key clients for Dalesman but it also supplies multi-national and middle ranking food processors.

A Gordon Rhodes retail range of flavourings and ingredients was launched three years ago in honour of the founder and can now be found in Harrods, Fortnum & Mason, Booths supermarkets as well as farm shops and bespoke food hampers.

Increasing regulation in the food sector which has suffered from foot and mouth disease, the horsemeat scandal and BSE, present a continuous challenge.

“When we opened this site the British Retail Consortium certification regualtions were version five. Version seven is about to come into force which means that, not only do we need to know where our suppliers source their materials but also where their suppliers source ingredients from.

“Although we have constantly achieved A-grade certification the latest development means we’ll need to create a team to just look after that aspect of the business,” said Ian.

Exports are an area which could be about to take off for Dalesman. Currently less than one per cent of turnover, overseas sales prospects look promising after Dalesman recently completed an order for Poland which was ten times larger than its biggest UK order.

The prospects could be game-changing and negotiations are under way to look at prospects of developing the Polish business and other export opportunities.

Ian said: “ Exports is something we consciously want to grow .Over the last few months overseas business has started to grow and offers huge potential. It cold become a major part of our operations.”

In addition to its Bradford base, Dalesman has made acquisitions which give it depots in Scotland, Newcastle and Warwick. Ian said: “It’s very satisfying to have been able to grow the business as much as we have. When we started out we just wanted to be able to pay our mortgage. Now, we’re helping around 90 families pay theirs.

“I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved and of our people, many of whom have been with us for many years and have become friends.

“We’ve always believed in keeping things simple , being honest and using common sense. The result is that Dalesman is a very bright diamond in this industry.”