Princes, an international food and drink group, has announced a new long-term partnership with Capri- Sun Group Holding AG, that will see the production of over 250 million Capri-Sun juice pouches annually at the Group’s production facility in Bradford.

This announcement  follows a recent move from Capri-Sun to bring sales and distribution in-house after a long-term relationship with Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP).

In order to meet increased demand, the Princes contract with Capri-Sun will involve a transfer of four production lines from CCEP to Princes Bradford, something that will create around 50-60 new jobs in the area.

The company has shared that production will begin in autumn 2024, and “all lines” are set to be fully operational by spring 2025.

“To ensure a smooth transition from CCEP, Princes has already started supporting Capri-Sun with warehousing and logistics services,” said Princes.

“We’re incredibly excited to be bringing Capri-Sun pouches to Bradford – the new UK home of this iconic and much-loved brand. Establishing this partnership is a significant milestone in the continued growth of our drinks business, creating around 50-60 new job opportunities in the local area. Princes is looking forward to partnering with Capri-Sun to support their ambitions now, and in the future,” said Andy Hargraves, Group Commercial Director for Drinks at Princes.

Princes has shared that it will be co-packing two Capri-Sun formats. One will be 200ml pouches with paper straws and the other will be 330ml pouches with a screw cap.

As part of the transition, Capri-Sun is moving to recyclable pouches (kerbside for 330ml and at large supermarkets for 200ml) and will also be introducing tethered caps on the 330ml pouches, something it claims will “reduce packaging waste by 14 percent”.

The production facility in Bradford is Princes Group’s largest soft drinks production site in the UK, and currently has around 400 colleagues and eight production lines for dilutes, carbonates and ready-to-drink products.

“We are very excited to go into this collaboration between Princes and Capri-Sun. Over the last months the supply chain and engineering departments were working very closely together to prepare the transition of the production lines into the Bradford site,” said Stefan Seiss at Capri-Sun Group Holding AG.

“It is great to see that the expertise and the positive attitude on both sides will deliver a new production setup to fulfill the demand and the quality to support the growth of Capri-Sun in Great Britain,” concluded Seiss.