Pukka Pies management say they are reaping the rewards of investment in the business with growing sales and job creation.
The pie, pasties and sausage roll maker has put millions into its Leicestershire production line in recent years.
It has also started developing new vegan products to meet demand within the growing meat-free sector, all the time creating jobs at its headquarters in Syston, just north of Leicester.
In a show of intent that it wants a bigger share of the market, it even launched its latest TV ad campaign at a rooftop party in London鈥檚 Soho.
However, plans to add a create space for 150 new jobs 鈥 about half the size of the existing site 鈥 on land it owns next to its current plant are currently on hold.
Four years ago the family-owned business revealed plans to build a 50,000 sq ft addition to its existing headquarters at The Half Croft, Syston, which would create space for 150 new jobs.
General manager Isaac Fisher said the planned factory expansion and distribution facility had not been ruled out but were not part of the company鈥檚 immediate strategy.
Mr Fisher said the business had adapted well while football grounds closed during the pandemic 鈥 concentrating on its supermarket and take-away customers and even bringing out a football themed chicken balti pie for sale in shops.
He said investment in new products was reflected in recognition both on the consumer front and in things such as its vegan minced steak & onion pie winning The Grocer鈥檚 New Product Award in the vegan category.
In all the Leicestershire factory makes about 200,000 pies a day, seven days a week, with 40 per cent frozen for chip shops. And all the products are made with 144 layers of vegan puff pastry.
He said Pukka is the biggest supplier of branded pies to shops, some four times bigger than the nearest competitor.
Mr Fisher said supermarket sales were now around 65 per cent of sales, with sales to takeaway businesses still a huge source of revenues, despite an initial hit from Covid.
He said: 鈥淲e went through a challenging period when the fish and chip shops initially closed their doors.
鈥淲e did what we could to support them through reopening 鈥 putting together packs and giving online support and we created a really good social media toolkit.
鈥淔ish and chip shops are still our absolute heartland, but retail gives more of an opportunity to expand what we offer, with a 鈥淧ukka for every occasion鈥.
鈥淲e have expanded the core pie range and we expanded our chicken and balti pies from football grounds into retail when grounds were closed to give fans something they were missing.
鈥淭here are now 12 flavours of the core range in retail, with three just-for-two, and five microwave pies. There are also now a couple of different ranges of pasties and sausage rolls.
鈥淥ur vegan products started in September 2020 and have exceeded our expectations in terms of sales performance.鈥
Latest accounts for the year to May 2020 showed sales of 拢53 million, slightly up on 2019.
The business employs 375 people at its Leicestershire bakery and recently held an open day to help bring in another 20 staff.
Today its products are sold in more than 4,000 shops and supermarkets including Tesco, Asda Morrisons, Sainsbury鈥檚 and the Co-op, and at 40 sports grounds.
Back in February the business announced a 拢4.5 million investment in manufacturing, which has included big new cooking vessels for its fillings and a new packing area, as well as replacing the big spiral conveyors which gently take pies from the production hall to the ovens - then back down again.
The journey between floors for each pie takes 45 minutes, allowing uncooked pies to rest and cooked ones to cool.
Mr Fisher said: 鈥淓xpanding onto the new piece of land is still to be confirmed and all signs point to it going ahead, but prior to that we have spent money doubling our sauce capacity and we鈥檝e got more investment planned.
鈥淢ulti-million investment going into the factory includes a new facility for our vegan products, which have to be segregated, and our packing hall has kit for more variety of products.
Mr Fisher said the business had not been able to avoid raw material inflation and supply chain issues, but was confident it would still be able to keep customers happy.
He said: 鈥淭he founding principle of [our directors] Tim and Andrew Storer has always been about looking after our people and we have a longstanding, committed and loyal workforce which has helped us through the recent challenges in labour shortages.
鈥淲e鈥檝e added about 20 staff in the last few months as we come into our busiest time of year and we offer a good package here in terms of pay and benefits 鈥 including a turkey given at Christmas.
鈥淚t鈥檚 fair to say there have been challenges across all [raw material] markets, but we鈥檝e taken the necessary steps to make sure we can guarantee our customers 100 per cent service 鈥 but it is coming at a cost because there is inflation.鈥
Pukka expanded its Vegan portfolio in October, with the launch of a brand-new smoky cheddar flavour & onion pie in partnership with British cheese brand Applewood Vegan.
Even prior to that its vegan chicken & mushroom and vegan minced steak & onion pies were contributing 拢3.2 million to annual sales.
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