The duo behind Boka cereal bars have opened a new £3 million manufacturing facility specifically for granola, as they look to expand their capabilities.
Franco Beer and Christopher Christofi set up Bakeit Food in March 2025. Since then, it has achieved BRC AA certification, IFS Higher, and is producing around 220 tonnes of premium granola per month.
While data from Kantar (52 w/e 29 September 2024) shows granola is outperforming the market with year-on-year volume growth of +3.4%, Beer says British granola manufacturing hasn’t kept up.
Franco Beer, founder of Bakeit Food said: “British granola and cereal brands were struggling to find UK-based production so there was an opportunity to build a manufacturing site that could support the growth of the category. Bakeit bakes and packs premium granola and is agile enough to support brands with bespoke recipes, and deliver a consistently quality product, at scale.
“We built our own cereal bar manufacturing facility for Boka bars last year, so we are adept at building factories that deliver a quality product quickly and efficiently. We got the keys for our factory in March 2025 and started producing granola in June 2025.”
Bakeit is housed in a 12,500 sq ft site and employs a team of 22. It makes an array of custom baked granola, including loose, crunch and clustered. The facility includes baking, packing and warehousing; it also has the capability to innovate, develop, trial and produce a range of granolas, mueslis, cereals, flapjacks, oatmeal and nut and seed snacks.
Currently, it manufactures granola in various sizes of bag in box, large bulk offerings; but it is soon to have a pouch filling line too.
Further expansion plans are set for this year, with the site currently in the process of attaining an AOECS gluten free certification so it can expand its offering this category.
Beer added: “We have invested £3 million in the Winchester Bakeit factory, and we plan to grow even further in the next 12 months. We will also add capability to create baked bars, like flapjacks.”
“We’re proud to have achieved a BRCG AA and IFS certification so quickly. We’re continuing to invest in the site so we can produce more product for customers, including expanding our gluten-free capability.”
