Crisp-maker Seabrook will next week expand the range of flavours it supplies to Morrisons and increase the shelf space its products occupy in the chain’s 422 stores.

It is a crucial development in the Bradford firm’s continued growth and comes as a £1m investment in two new state-of-the-art packaging lines comes on stream, which will increase Seabrook’s output by more than 30 per cent.

The deal with Morrisons also fits with Seabrook’s aim of boosting its name-awareness in a bid to become the nation’s favourite crisp brand.

This will see a concerted marketing campaign using a range of techniques such as free sampling through the national and regional press and a possible return to TV advertising.

Seabrook are also the favoured crisps in leading TV soaps such as Emmerdale, Coronation Street, EastEnders and Hollyoaks.

Managing director John Tague said the new lines took capital investment to more than £5m in the past couple of years to improve efficiency and meet rising demand which saw growth in all areas of the UK.

In Scotland, sales have soared by 89 per cent and are up by 42 per cent in London, 36 per cent in the South-East and in Wales, and by more than a quarter in the Midlands.

Mr Tague said: “We are seeing phenomenal sales growth in all areas of the country which keeps us on track to meet our targets. Overall, however, we still only have four per cent of the market, so still have a long way to go.

“The Morrisons deal is a major boost to increasing brand awareness as they will carry a wider variety and our crisps will occupy a full bay rather than just part of a shelf in their stores.

“Asda is another key customer and we have seen our sales triple there since winning the business. Our success with leading supermarkets is partly down to the fact that we are flexible, including packing crisps in bespoke cartons by different customers.”

Seabrook, which employs 150 staff at its Duncombe Road base, where it produces 24 hours a day, has a five-year plan to increase turnover to £80m by 2013-14. Last year the privately-owned business increased turnover from £24m to £30m.

Such is its growth, the firm has been forced to rent a 100,000sq ft warehouse at Yeadon – five times the size of its own storage space – to handle the rising output which keeps it on track to produce 180,000 48-pack cartons of crisps a year.

In the past two years, Seabrook has installed two new cookers, together with other automated process lines.

More than 50 per cent of the 30,000 tons of potatoes it uses every year are grown in Yorkshire.

Seabrook has also expanded its sales force to maintain its growth, and this is an area where future job opportunities may occur.