WE MAKE
UNBEATABLE
EATABLES
OUR STORY
We make UNBEATABLE EATABLES by taking food brands in need of some TLC and making them unbEATable.
SQUARE PIE
Everything started with SQUARE PIE which was a London centric restaurant group. We acquired the brand in 2018 after the collapse of its restaurant business. We then spent 12 months restructuring the brand, refining its focus and increasing its spirit. We focussed on Wholesale and Grocery sales, saving and building relationships. We returned the brand to profit within 12 months.
EAT EAT EAT BEAT.
HALLOUMINATI
Soon after Square Pie, we saw that our format worked, so we set about thinking how to replicate our success by using our proven formula to build our first own brand.
We spent many months assessing the market, looking at future trends within food and discovered Halloumi fries, that didn’t exist in the market at the time. We found a new manufacturing partner and worked with them closely to develop HALLOUMINATI, the keepers of eternally delicious, golden and frozen Halloumi fries, making something easy to prepare and even better to share. We developed a brand that was authentic, no nonsense and made from 100% pure Cypriot Halloumi. We took the brand from idea to on the shelves inside 6 months working closely with our launch customer to deliver a truly authentic offering that solved problems rather than just adding products to a range.
Since then, Hallouminati has gone on to overtake Square Pie and to become our leading branded product within our portfolio, with many millions of fries sold.
UNBEATABLE EATABLES
NANTWICH CHEESE
We had been working closely with our manufacturing partner on Hallouminati for quite some time, and given the growth of the brand, it quickly became a key relationship for us so when 12 months later NANTWICH CHEESE were looking to sell the business, our stars aligned and it was the perfect next addition to our growing portfolio of companies and brands obsessed with making great food.
It was a different move for us, as for the first time it would see us take on manufacturing, up until this point we had outsourced all manufacturing and purely focussed on brand development.
The acquisition was a long one, and we jumped over many hurdles along the way, but in November 2019 the deal was finally done, we packed up our things from our swanky Manchester city centre office and moved to Rural Shropshire to be closer to this latest investment.
We had 4 main objectives in the first year
Build a strong team of high performing individuals focussed on making the business a success
Reinvigorate the product offering, and tune the business to tackle the current growth areas within food.
Widen its market base by moving into new channels and categories
Bring financial and strategy stability to the business
We quickly stabilised the financial position of the company and we structured the organisation in a manner ready for growth from the top down, bringing in an entirely new leadership team that were aligned to our values and focussed on success. We opened up new channels for the business, such as Grocery and Food Service as well as increased its capacity and capability with new equipment and innovation. The highest growth opportunity at the time for the business was by selling direct to consumer, so that’s exactly what we did in launching our E-COMMERCE site in early 2020.
We all know what happened next… the two biggest challenges to rock the country in centuries; BREXIT and COVID-19. So for the first time in our history so far, we had to tackle the ever changing reality that these two obstacles and our days had gone from being purely about growing and figuring out what’s the next big thing, instead we had to protect our people and do our small bit to keep the country turning.
Fast forward to 2022, as we returned to the ‘new normal’, the business continues to break down walls, move into new categories and channels and bring innovation to the market. The 4 years we’ve been trading has gone by in the blink of an eye; we’ve gone from start up with no revenue to £20M in annual sales in 4 years. We continue to grow significantly year on year, and are committed to delivering our promise to reach £50M in group revenue by 2028.