Leading pie brand Pukka has announced the launch of a five-year plan to supercharge sales under continued family ownership and investment.
The company also announced the appointment of Isaac Fisher as new chief executive, following four years as managing director and 11 years with the business.
He succeeds Deborah Ewan who will move into a new role as non-executive director, following six years with the business.
Fisher said the “ambitious and achievable” plan would be delivered by Pukka’s “highly talented team”, backed by the “full support” of the Storer family that founded the business in 1963 in Leicestershire, where it remains today.
The announcement follows a review into the company’s next phase, which Fisher said had made it “unequivocally clear” that the interests of the business, its customers and more than 400 colleagues would be best served under the continued ownership of Pukka’s founding family and its team.
“Backed by the full support of Pukka’s founding family, our highly talented team has been smashing it in savoury pastry over the past five years, bringing Pukka’s full-on flavour to people throughout the UK across out of home and as one of the fastest growing and most loved brands in grocery,” said Fisher.
“Without Pukka the savoury pastry category lacks personality. We are the brand driving incremental growth by making savoury pastry relevant and interesting with our mission to deliver full-on-flavour to the category.”
Pukka’s range of chilled and frozen savoury pastry – from pies to on-the-go snacking – has added sales of more than £13m in retail alone in the last year, helping the business to grow 23 per cent and twice as fast as the category, to take their retail sales to in excess of £70 million [Circana 52w/e 14.04.24].
“No other savoury pastry brand has achieved so much in such a short space of time, and now our ambitious plans will supercharge our growth,” said Fisher.
Pukka has invested £15 million in its site and bakery facilities in the last five years and will continueto develop their bakery to be fit for future growth where “even more disruptive new products” would be possible, he added.
The company has a long track record of turning everything from limited edition pies, pizza and all day breakfast slices into the nation’s favourites, backed by award-winning advertising and marketing campaigns, including the current ‘Pukka for the People’, which has brought Pukka’s full-on flavour to multiple channels and touchpoints.
“Pukka has 98 per cent prompted awareness, and we’re the right brand to be leading the category,” Fisher said. “Most importantly, thanks to Pukka, people have fallen back in love with savoury pastry,and we’ll continue to drive that growth and love for the category under our new five-year strategy and beyond.
“There is plenty more growth for us to go after within both chilled and frozen across retail and out of home. And there area load of other places where the Pukka name can add a stamp of assurance and inspiration. In short, we have a clear strategy to increase our presence across markets.”
Tim Storer, who continues as director alongside brother Andrew, said: “We are delighted the review has concluded that Pukka is best served by a combination of its immensely talented team and continued family ownership.
“Our parents, Trevor and Valerie, started this incredible business back in 1963 and Andrew and I remain committed to the vision that they created. We look forward to delivering the next phase of growth through our continued investment and support.”
