Exponential growth experienced in the 5 years since establishment has led Branson Chemicals to move  to a custom built manufacturing and office facility situated in Cosmo Business Park, north of Randburg. The new premises provide 1 700 sq m of production space and 350 sq m of administration offices including a fully equipped laboratory. This is 4 times the size of Branson’s previous accommodation.

Director Gerald Brown explained that Branson’s hygiene and cleaning chemical sales have increased by 25% per annum. “Major growth has been seen in the institutional, food and beverage industries and dairy plants, but more specifically in the dairy farm sector where we are the market leaders.”

In correlation with Branson’s rapid expansion, the manufacturing and sales staff compliment has grown 6-fold and the company has a nationwide network of 20-plus agents specializing in the dairy farm industry.

The company has a range of over 100 products and cleaning programs which have been developed in-house. The fully-equipped microbiological laboratory is also capable of undertaking hygiene audits where sample swabs taken on customers’ sites are incubated and monitored to check for sanitation standards.

“Our short term goal is to aggressively expand into the food and beverage, hospitality, healthcare and institutional industries. An important product that has found favour is Branson’s portion-controlled dishwashing machine detergent which is available in a concentrated solid cast format. It is definitely the future for this industry as the major advantage is proven savings as wastage is reduced. We are also establishing a dishwasher rental program for the hospitality industry. We supply and maintain the machines so that they concentrate on the business of making food!” says Brown.

On the food and beverage side Branson is introducing specialized pressure washing machines – both fixed and mobile – for high volume cleaning and sanitizing of plant facilities.

The company has also formed an alliance with a specialist group to develop the water care market into Africa for the processing, food and beverage and general industries.

“Going forward we expect to sustain growth by at least 20% per year to become a major force in our chosen markets. Branson will continue to produce world class innovative products and solutions.  An example of our strong inroads into markets is that in just a few years we advanced to become the second largest chemical supplier to the airline catering industry.”