Harlech Foodservice is on course for record sales this year after investing £500,000 in an ingenious way to increase storage capacity.

It has increased the capacity of its giant freezer by 25 per cent after reconfiguring the racking with narrower aisles and adding an extra row. As part of the plan the company also bought “bendy” forklift trucks that can navigate the tighter spaces. As a result, the capacity of the freezer has been increased by 270 pallets to a total of 1,100.

The package of measures includes installing a new, more environmentally friendly refrigeration system to keep the temperature in the freezer at a constant -21°C. The initiative will lead to an annual reduction of more than 111 tonnes in CO2 emissions as well as generating significant savings on the energy bill.

Operations manager Ian Evans said: “It became clear that we needed more freezer capacity but we dismissed the idea of building an extension, not only because of the cost involved but also because it would have increased our carbon footprint at a time when the price of energy is spiralling.

“Instead, we’ve reduced the width of the aisles from 3.2 metres to 1.8 metres, put in an extra row and trained the staff to use the new bendy forklift trucks to enable them to work in a narrower environment.

“In addition, we’ve installed LED lighting and updated half of our refrigeration plants which will save us up to 40 per cent on our energy costs.

“The work that we’ve done already is going to save the equivalent of 60 CO2 equivalent tonnes a year with plans to do a further 50 tonnes.”