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An award-winning Devon food manufacturer has doubled its vegan range and is set to increase its production space with the support of a £2.7m funding package.

Little & Cull in Newton Abbot supplies prepared meals to hotels, pubs, restaurants and catering companies across the UK. The firm has increased its range of vegan dishes, which includes curries, soups and tagines to capitalise on the growing demand for vegan food.

Tom Cull, chef director at Little & Cull, said: “The trend for people taking up vegan lifestyles isn’t going to stall any time soon, which is why it was important for us to create great tasting vegan options for people dining away from home.”

Sales of vegan products currently account for 10per cent of Little & Cull’s £9m annual turnover, compared with 5per cent two years ago.

The company is expanding its premises for the second time in six months. The company has bought new office space with the support of a £500,000 loan from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking.

The new site will increase the firm’s production space by 30per cent.

The bank’s Global Transaction Banking team have also provided a £1million hire purchase facility to buy new fridges and a working capital facility of £1.2million to support the company’s cash flow requirements.

Little & Cull currently employ 80 members of staff and is planning to recruit an additional 20 people by 2020.

Mr Cull said: “We’ve had a longstanding relationship with the team at Lloyds Bank. The latest funding means we’ll be able to move our admin and operations team into the new building in March, freeing up production space for our kitchen staff to create even more products.”

Martin Potts, relationship manager at Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, said the popularity of plant-based diets is growing at an unprecedented rate. Figures from The Vegan Society show that in the past ten years, there’s been a 350per cent increase of people in the UK giving up meat, fish, dairy and eggs.

He said: “It’s encouraging to see Devon-based businesses like Little & Cull taking advantage of this growing lifestyle trend. We’re committed to helping Britain prosper by supporting ambitious businesses like Little & Cull. That’s why since the start of 2011, we’ve grown our net lending to SMEs by 32% while the market has contracted by 12%.”