The company plans to increase its research and development (R&D) workforce in the UK by an additional 98 - from 552 to 650 employees. These new roles will be split between Kraft Foods’ R&D centres in the UK in Bournville (54) and Reading (44):Bournville, Kraft Foods’ Global Centre of Excellence for Chocolate R&D (54).
There is existing business-as-usual recruitment taking place in Banbury, Kraft Foods’ Global Centre of Excellence for Coffee R&D.
R&D teams in the UK work on developing brands in chocolate, gum, coffee, cheese and biscuits such as Cadbury, Oreo, Philadelphia, Trebor and Kenco, covering everything from packaging innovation to new coffee design.
The UK has the largest R&D footprint for Kraft Foods outside of North America.
Neil Bentley, CBI deputy-director general, said: “It is encouraging to see that Kraft is enhancing its R & D capability here in the UK. Cadbury had a long and proud tradition in this area which Kraft are clearly keen to continue and develop”.
The UK is an attractive location for R&D, especially in the food and drink sector. In 2008, UK food and drink imports totalled £31.6billion, while consumer expenditure on food and drink reached £177billion in 2009. The UK’s organic sector alone is worth £1.2billion
