Charlie Bigham’s to invest in production as sales hit £40M

21-Oct-2015 - Last updated on 23-Oct-2015 at 13:30 GMT

Bigham has experienced strong year-on-year growth for his posh ready meal brand Charlie Bigham's

Posh ready meal manufacturer Charlie Bigham’s will invest in new production facilities following a 47% year-on-year growth amounting to £40M in retail sales.

The London-based business made the announcement along with its full-year financial results to September 30 2015.

The new production kitchen should open within the next two years and will more than double capacity at the firm’s north-west London factory.

Charlie Bigham’s refused to divulge any more information on the “top secret” production kitchen, but said the site would cater for future demand and ensure the brand continues to be a market leader for fresh, high quality food.

Increased demand and bigger kitchen

“We are absolutely delighted with our FY15 [financial year 2015] results, and demand for our food continues to increase so we’re committed to building a bigger production kitchen to keep up,” the firm’s founder Charlie Bigham said.

“We’re very proud to be delivering delicious food to more twosomes than ever before.”

Charlie Bigham’s will also invest further in television marketing in 2016 off the back of a successful campaign which saw volume of its fish pie increase by over 35%.

Its popular television advert will return to screens in the New Year and London is set to be the epicentre of the campaign. With an estimated reach of 50M impressions, sales are expected to hit new records, the firm claimed.

Popularity

To cater for increased popularity and demand, the brand has expanded its offering with a new ‘For One’ range. Whilst the brand is still continuing to focus on creating high quality dishes for two, Charlie Bigham’s Fish Pie, Lasagne, Macaroni Cheese and Moussaka recently launched in single portions with an recommended retail price of £4.50 in around 200 Waitrose stores and are now available from Ocado.

“2016 is set to be even better as we invest further in TV and reach ever-bigger audiences,” Bigham said. “Here’s to an exciting new year.”

This time last year, Charlie Bigham’s sales were £26M following similar year-on-year growth of 46%.

Meanwhile, revisit our exclusive video interview with Bigham from inside the firm’s innovation kitchen to hear his top three tips for growth.