Food business is bouncing back

A FOOD delivery business in Halifax is back on its feet after being hit by the floods caused by Storm Ciara.

Cottage Foods (Yorkshire) Ltd, based at the Lee Bridge Industrial Estate next to Dean Clough Mills, was deluged by flood water at the weekend.

But after an intensive cleanup operation, the business has managed to quickly get back to work.

Jen White, co-owner of the company, said: “Hebble Brook just ripped through our warehouse. The water was a metre high.

“We have fresh, frozen and ambient food on site but the water ripped through our fridges and freezers and meant we lost about £80,000 worth of stock.

“We’ve had a massive cleanup operation with family and friends.

“We got here at about 1.30pm on the Sunday and had to force the shutter doors open to get the stock out.

“We thought the water would just be in the office and the warehouse but it had got into these fridge freezers worth £200,000.

“So we had to throw all the stock away and start again. There were 30 pallets of stock that had to go into the bin.

“But we’ve kept our deliveries going, which is pretty amazing and got stuff out on the Monday.

“We’ve converted two vans into freezer units.

“Everyone pulled together, we’ve borrowed forklifts from different people because ours stopped working because of the flooding.

“And our customers have been fabulous - they’ve mixed and matched their orders and been very understanding.”

The business employs 11 staff and was formed in 1989, with Jen and her business partner taking over two years ago.

“I just can’t imagine going through this again,” she said. “It was a hard week and we’re all shattered. But with the help of people we’re back in the game.”

There were 30 pallets of stock that had to go in the bin