Pictured: (l-r) Merle Whilby, Errol Drummond and Henry Foster (all Sunrise Bakery)

A Black Country's specialist food business is celebrating its 45th birthday in style after recent sales growth put it on course for a record year.

Sunrise Bakery, which employs 27 people at its production facility in Smethwick, is set to see turnover rise significantly as more high street multiples chose to stock its range of hard dough bread and spice buns.

The Caribbean food firm is now featured in more than 90 Asda stores, 60 Tesco outlets across the UK and in over 250 independent retailers.

It marks a strong growth pattern for the business, which was first formed by Herman Drummond and William Lamont after the duo had worked at a similar bakery in the Midlands.

"2011 is a big year for Sunrise and we're planning a series of events to mark the occasion, including further investment in our production facilities and the launch of a new product," explained Managing Director Errol Drummond.

"The idea is to create a buzz around the firm with employees, suppliers and, importantly existing and potential customers. We will also use our birthday to help raise the profile of niche food companies and future minority ethnic entrepreneurs and what they can achieve with the right ideas and the right drive."

Sunrise Bakery was set up in 1966 to cater for the rapidly growing Caribbean population in and around Birmingham and the Black Country.

The demand for hard dough bread helped the enterprising duo build a network of local shops and, with 'word of mouth' generating more sales, the company began to grow and in 1980 relocated to its current site in Smethwick.

From here, a steady programme of investment in labour saving machines and the automation of production lines has helped expand its product range. Its delivery network grew at a similar rate to cater for shops as far North as Yorkshire and down to London and the South East.

Errol, who took total control of the company in 2009, continued: 

"The business has moved on considerably since my father and William Lamont started it during the 60s, but one important ingredient has remained the same and that is the commitment to creating products that boast the traditional taste of the Caribbean.

"We've always been innovative and we were amongst the first bakeries to offer sliced hard dough bread, put the best before date on packaging and add a corporate logo to our packaging. The next innovation will be a new rum cake, which we'll look to launch shortly."

Backed by leading consultants Business Tank, Sunrise has ambitious plans to target other high street multiples and increasing its geographic coverage.

With more than one million loaves produced annually, the firm is reaching full capacity and has hinted at the possibility of moving to larger premiers in the Black Country or Birmingham.

"It's important for us to stay in the local area as most of our staff live within five or ten minutes of our bakery. The challenge we face is finding a suitable location that offers us the chance to house our entire operation on one site and provides capacity for future growth."

Errol concluded: "We are very pleased to be celebrating our 45th birthday and look forward to the next five years when we will be more than half a century old!"