Sauces and dressings manufacturer Scarlett & Mustard is taking on two new members of staff and planning a move to larger premises after securing a £20,000 grant from the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership’s Growing Business Fund.

The business, launched in 2012 by husband and wife team Julian Pollard and Sandy Ruddock from the kitchen at their home in Earl Soham, already supplies nearly 500 retail outlets, including names such as Harrods, Harvey Nichols and Fortnum & Mason.

Having moved to its own premises, also in Earl Soham, within months of its launch, the business is now planning a move to a larger unit on the same site.

“We quickly outgrew our first premises, so we needed to source funding to enable us to find a larger site and take on new staff,” said Mr Pollard.

“After raising £150,000 through private investment, we also approached New Anglia LEP to talk about their Growing Business Fund, and it proved to be critical to our business.

“New Anglia was extremely helpful and the application process was quick and painless.”

One condition of the Growing Business Fund, which uses money secured by New Anglia from the Government’s £3.2billion Regional Growth Fund, is that one job must be created for every £10,000 awarded, and Scarlett & Mustard will be creating new full-time office and sales roles, as well as taking on more part-time staff.

Mr Pollard added: “I cannot stress how important this funding is to our growth. To be able to access such meaningful finance means we can now move to larger, purpose-built premises on the same site and 70% of next years’ wages is covered.

“It’s a considerable weight off our minds and means we can grow naturally without any financial stress.”