Supermarket interest prompts Yorkshire Pudding Pie Company investment
The £120,000 of funding from local investors, facilitated by advisory firm Garbutt + Elliot, will help to expand production for the company in a bid to supply its products nationwide.
Founder Ted Harrison told Food Manufacture that the construction of the new facility was crucial to the company’s plans to supply retailers across the UK.
“The main reason for the investment was to be able to afford to build a facility that would then allow us to supply the product to retail,” said Harrison. “You have to have your facility set up before the supermarkets, for instance, say yes [to a supply deal].
National supply deal
“But we have approached and had a meeting with one national supermarket who are very keen to take the products. They’ve seen the product, they've tried the product and they want us to supply to them.”
As well as sourcing the investment, the Garbutt + Elliott team – led by corporate finance partner Tony Farmer, who has joined the Yorkshire Pudding Pie Company board – advised on the company structure, provided start-up advice and will supply accounting, management information and taxation services as the business grows.
Harrison described the work by the agency as incredibly helpful, not just for securing the investment, but for connecting the Yorkshire Pudding Pie Company with businesses with crucial food industry experience.
“I’m a builder by trade that has ended up making pies for a living, so I wanted to find business partners rather than just a cheque book,” Harrison explained.
‘New and different’
Harrison was confident that the general take-up of the its novel pies – which use Yorkshire puddings as a replacement to traditional pastry – would be positive, since it was offering something “new and different”.
“We’re the only people in the country making this product and all the retailers are looking for new, interesting food products you know – especially in the pastry market where it has been kind of stagnant for a long time really,” he added.
The Yorkshire Pudding Pie Company has also set its sites on the international market and has identified growing interest in its products in the US and beyond.
“I think there's a big market for our product because they just love the word Yorkshire in a lot of foreign countries,” said Harrison. “The Americans, the Japanese and the Chinese... they love anything to do with Yorkshire.
“We’d love to look at exporting, going forwards. It would require considerably more investment, but it's baby steps right now.”
