Kilrea manufacturer, Mullin's Ice Cream, has officially opened its new factory and office premises after a £775 thousand investment programme assisted by Invest NI.

The family-run business which employs 20 staff on the Kilrea site and has more than 50 scoop parlours across Northern Ireland, has expanded its storage facilities, invested in new machinery and a remodelled factory floor as well as adding purpose built new office facilities.

Company Director Walter Mullin believes that the time was right to make an investment of this scale: "While to some extent, we are a small family-owned business, we are always planning ahead and after 53 years of making a high-quality local product, we felt that it was time to invest in the future of the business. Technology has moved on since we first started producing ice cream here and our new facilities will allow us to meet the demands of our customers as well providing the opportunity to expand into new markets further down the line."

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"We are very proud of our products and the quality of our ice cream and we hope that our new factory will allow us to add to staff numbers, expand our range of flavours and continue to develop as a company for another 50 years and beyond."

Invest NI provided ten per cent of the overall investment needed for the factory's expansion.

Speaking at the event, Maynard Mawhinney, Invest NI Food Division Director said: "I congratulate the directors of Mullins Ice Cream on a significant investment which demonstrates the company's commitment to the local community. Invest NI is pleased to have assisted the project which will facilitate the company's expansion in the ROI and GB markets and generate further employment in the Kilrea area."

Mullin's has been making luxury ice cream in Kilrea since 1954. Its ice cream comes in 25 flavours and is made from milk and cream produced by a herd of jersey cows that graze on the valley pastures of the River Bann.

(GK/JM)