Explore DC Norris’ innovations serving the global food, beverage, and pet food industries
For over 55 years, DC Norris has been at the heart of the food, beverage, and pet food processing industry, for which it designs, manufactures, and installs full turnkey food machinery systems for cooking, cooling, and packaging. By providing customers with flexible, efficient and innovative solutions, the company meets a full range of food processing requirements, from standalone items to fully automated processing lines. Ian Jones, Director, takes a deep dive into DC Norris’ evolution and future growth plans.
“With over 55 years of experience, we specialize in providing systems and standalone machines to various food manufacturing sectors, mainly ready meals, soups, sauces, beverages, and pet food. Founded in 1970 by David (our current Managing Director) and his father Douglas Norris, the company was originally a subcontractor providing fabrication services. After a couple of years, we were approached by Chivers Hartley, a local Cambridge company that is now called Hain Daniels, to design a manual can opener for catering-sized cans used by food manufacturers. As a result, we designed the machine, and even today, we continue to sell an updated version nearly every week. In the early 1980s, we expanded our reach in the UK and Europe by representing Groen, a leading US-based manufacturer of steam jacketed kettles. Groen had a process called Cook Chill, which provided extended shelf life for ready meals. A couple of years after introducing the Cook Chill system to the UK, it gained traction with major supermarkets like Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and Marks & Spencer as well as their manufacturing partners.
“We have been manufacturing and installing the Cook Chill System globally, including in the Middle East, the US, Australia and South Africa. In fact, 50-to-70 percent of our turnover comes from international sales, depending on the year and project size.
Extensive product portfolio
Through this journey, DC Norris has grown to a company that employs approximately 120 people at our Great Gransden site, with agents worldwide as well as an office and assembly facility in the US,” Ian elaborates.
“In 2016, we expanded the group by acquiring BCH Ltd, a former competitor that had entered administration. Since then, we have invested in its growth, successfully expanding the business and now employing nearly 100 staff at its Rochdale site. In 2023, we further strengthened the group’s position by acquiring Gilwood, a small fabrication company. Gilwood provides additional resources to support BCH and DC Norris during periods of high demand, helping us meet tight deadlines.
“Gilwood also manufactures its own products including pressure vessels and hygienic kitchen equipment.”
Ian goes on to tell us about DC Norris’ suite of machinery and services in greater detail. “Broadly speaking, our portfolio revolves around steam jacketed cooking vessels, known as cooking kettles. A core aspect of our business, these kettles essentially function as industrial-scale devices for cooking and stirring dishes like soups or ragus via a heated bowl and an agitator. We also offer add-ons like our Jet Cook, a patented advanced steam cooking technology, and an emulsifier that efficiently chops vegetables and other ingredients for soups and other ready meals. In the same vein, we manufacture systems designed to cook pasta, rice and vegetables in bulk. Moreover, our range of products extends to cooling systems like our static cooling vessel, where the food is placed in a batch within the vessel and cooled down to below four degrees Celsius. We also manufacture sous vide equipment, a popular choice in high-end restaurants, especially across the US and the Middle East. Sous Vide is a method of cooking at a lower temperature over a longer period to achieve pasteurization, which is particularly ideal for maintaining tenderness in steaks, joints and chicken.
“The same equipment can be used for making pet food and beverages, although such products may require different control systems and production processes as they tend to be processed more continuously than in batch.
“Additionally, our on-site Product Development Kitchen, equipped with our advanced cooking and cooling equipment, provides customers with the opportunity to conduct comprehensive trials. We prepare sample products, demonstrating the efficiency and quality achievable with our machinery. Backed by decades of expertise, our process team has a proven track record of helping clients globally optimize their food production. With over 5000 product trials conducted across 62 locations worldwide, our team excels in replicating, and often improving, throughput, product quality and consistency. After the trial, clients can take the product for further testing as needed. 
“It is also worth noting that we house our own electrical, control panel, assembly, and software departments, offering installation, commissioning, training, spare parts and servicing to all our clients,” he enlightens.
Quality and consistency
In honor of its technological prowess, DC Norris won the Innovative Processing System award at the 2024 Automate UK Awards. Ian reflects on this achievement, shedding light on how the company ranked ahead of its competitors. “Our Cook Quench Chill Adapt machine was the main reason we won that award. It was conceived during the pandemic when travel was highly restricted, leading us to spend most of our time analyzing client feedback on our existing machines. Our goal was to develop an improved system that would be more efficient, utilize green energy, and reduce both energy and water consumption. We developed the award-winning Cook Quench Chill Adapt, designed for cooking foods like pasta, rice, pulses and vegetables. While it embraces the same concept as our other cooking devices, the Cook Quench Chill Adapt uses a patented heating method that significantly cuts down on water usage without compromising performance. We strive to implement this approach across other aspects of our operations. For instance, we have developed our Recipe Manager software, which enables centralized control of multiple cooking systems. As operators follow a defined set of steps, they ensure quality and consistency across the board, directly benefiting our clients in terms of the quality and consistency of their products. Notably, this software also provides reporting and quality checks,” he informs.
The invention of the Cook Quench Chill Adapt showcases DC Norris’ commitment to sustainability, as Ian highlights: “Over the years, we have implemented various eco-friendly initiatives such as transitioning to LED lighting, exploring solar energy options, and increasing our recycling efforts. This year, our primary objective is to offset our carbon footprint, a difficult endeavor given the substantial energy demands inherent in our operations, though leveraging solar energy should make it possible. We optimized the design of our machinery to make it more efficient for our clients, particularly with respect to older equipment for which newer, more efficient replacements are no longer commercially available,” he concludes.
As a pioneering manufacturer of innovative food processing solutions, DC Norris holds a vital position in the food industry, consistently exceeding customer expectations through its commitment to excellence and technological advancement.