CHICAGO — Kellanova plans to invest £75 million ($98.3 million) to boost production at its cereal plant in Wrexham, North Wales, United Kingdom, marking the company’s largest single investment in British cereal production in over 30 years.

With the expansion and upgrade, the Wrexham facility’s current annual production will more than double to about 1.5 million boxes of cereal daily, which would make the location Europe’s biggest cereal manufacturing site, Kellanova said.

The Wrexham plant, opened in 1978, makes Kellogg’s cereal brands such as Special K, All Bran, Bran Flakes and Fruit ’n Fibre. Kellanova said the facility is the world’s largest Special K plant.

In addition, the Wrexham site will serve as a consolidation point for Kellanova’s UK cereal production. Plans call for other Kellogg’s cereals made in the United Kingdom, including Corn Flakes and Crunchy Nut, to shift to Wrexham as Kellanova scales down production at its Trafford Park plant in Manchester, England, scheduled to close in late 2026.

The investment also will bring sustainability benefits to the Wrexham plant. Kellanova said two new advanced production lines will raise capacity as well as enable the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning technology to reduce energy consumption, cutting CO₂ emissions from cereal manufacturing by 11% per year. Similarly, efficiencies from the new production technology will translate into fuller use of raw materials, such as rice, resulting in a tenfold reduction in food waste across the supply chain, the company said.

Also under the project, the Wrexham facility will add new packaging lines, and current production lines will be upgraded to improve cereal production efficiency, according to Kellanova. Increased flexibility brought by the new lines will enable faster introduction of new cereal formats and ingredients as well, the company added. 

Besides expanded production capacity, the Wrexham factory investment includes significant technology upgrades. | Photo: Kellanova

“This investment is a major commitment to cereal production in the UK,” said Chris Silcock, UK managing director for Kellanova. “By bringing together the manufacturing of all our major breakfast cereals at one site in Wrexham, we can make significant leaps forward in the efficiency, quality and sustainability of our operation. It sets us up for future success and opens up new possibilities for our iconic brands to continue delighting our customers and consumers.”

Chicago-based Kellanova emerged from the October 2023 split of the former Kellogg Co. into two public companies: Kellanova and WK Kellogg Co. Kellanova includes the global snacking, international cereal and noodles, plant-based foods and North American frozen food businesses, while WK Kellogg encompasses the North American cereal business.

In February 2024, Kellanova unveiled plans to reorganize its European cereal supply chain network under a broader manufacturing optimization strategy. The company said the effort includes a phased shutdown of the company’s Trafford Park cereal plant, which has 360 employees, by the end of 2026. 

Kellanova said the Wrexham plant investment will offer employment opportunities for workers displaced by the Manchester facility closing. About 130 jobs are slated to be created at the Wrexham site, which the company said also will support career development for the facility’s 350 current employees. The investment, too, will fund upgrades to the site’s training facilities.

“This is also a huge investment in our people,” Silcock said of the Wrexham expansion and upgrade. “We’re very pleased that we will be creating at least 130 new roles in Wrexham, as well as improving the existing facilities for our colleagues. The experience and capabilities of our skilled team at Wrexham will be crucial to the success of this transformation, which is a significant milestone in the evolution of our business. We look forward to making Wrexham the home of our cereal production for many generations to come.”