A LAKE District chocolate maker is planning to transform its business with a £850,000 expansion – including the creation of a new factory and distribution centre.

Friars, which owns chocolate shops in Keswick and Ambleside, has been supported by the Government’s Made Smarter initiative, which helps businesses take advantage of new technology.

Friars, which has been in business for almost 100 years, started making its own brand of premium chocolates by hand last year. Now, the third generation family business plans to automate its manufacturing process, which it hopes will be game-changing for the company and increase production by 733 per cent.

Friars is also in initial discussions to invest in a new factory and distribution centre near the M6 in Penrith.

Michael Webster, who runs the business with his brother Richard, said: “Our ambition is to become one of the UK’s largest manufacturers of quality chocolates, but in order to do this we need to look to technology to enable us to scale up our operation while producing the highest quality possible.

“Made Smarter’s support and advice has accelerated and derisked our investment in process automation technology which will take the brakes off our growth plans and transform our business.”

The new production system will allow it to automate the labour-intensive element of its production line while retaining key handcrafted elements.

Last year, after struggling to find a reliable source of vegan chocolates, Friars began making its own, and now produces up to 6,000kg of chocolates a year, using an entirely manual process.