The Food Factory, Line by Line
Intake to despatch: how cook, chill and clean shape a food factory's day, and why its three energy centres are heat, cold and hot water.
10 min read · Jacob Willis, Net Zero Lead · Last reviewed July 2026
Food manufacturing is the UK's largest manufacturing sector, and its energy story is unlike any other industry on this platform. A food factory does three energetic things, over and over, on a rhythm set by food safety rather than convenience: it heats food to cook it, it cools food to keep it safe, and it heats water to clean everything the food touched. Heat, cold and hot water. Follow a product through the building once and you will know where every significant kilowatt-hour on site is going, and why the biggest gas load of the day often starts after production stops.