Savoury pastries 2024: adventurous NPD boosts pie brands

Development chefs at Britain’s savoury pasty and pie brands have certainly earned their crust this year. They’ve cooked up a host of new products that have helped add £60m to the category’s value.

While overall volumes are flat, innovation around fillings, formats and occasions have played a big role in brands outperforming their own label rivals. Branded volumes have risen 2.6% as own label sales slipped 2.5%.

“Own label is still the dominant player, accounting for 59% of sales but eroding year on year,” says NIQ retailer services team leader Lisa Rees.

She adds that retailers have focused on premium own label ranges as a way of countering brands, but the inclusion of those products in meal deals has eroded value.

Some of the biggest brands in the market, meanwhile, have recorded double-digit volume growth. NPD is ensuring they grow their slice of the pie. Take category leader Ginsters, which has shifted an extra 2.7 million kilos.

“We are seeing rising demand for more new and adventurous flavours, particularly from younger audiences who are more open to new flavour experiences and combinations,” says Emma Stowers, Ginsters marketing director.

The brand’s value has soared £22.6m, a success it puts down in part to launches including Butter Chicken Bake. The product has sold more than 430,000 units since rollout in April, says Stowers.

The Compleat Food Group has also had a great year after launching new pastry products. Its Wall’s and Pork Farms brands have sold a combined 1.8 million extra kilos and added £15.4m to the business.

“This strong performance is driven by a commitment to delivering consistently great taste and excellent value, particularly at a time when shoppers are managing their budgets and turning to trusted brands for comfort,” says brand director Jason Manley.

Innovation has also played a role in the success of both brands. This year, Pork Farms rolled out range extensions including a BBQ version of its Medium Pork Pie and a limited-edition Hog Roast & Apple Medium Pork Pie.

Meanwhile, Wall’s made a push into the breakfast market, rolling out three products based on a full English: All-Day Breakfast Scotch egg, Jumbo All-Day Breakfast Roll and All-Day Breakfast Slice.

“We’ve done a huge amount of work to look at ways of growing the category and one occasion that we found was under-represented was breakfast, identifying a clear demand for pastry based, on-the-go, breakfast options,” Manley adds.

Like Wall’s, Pukka pies has been targeting the breakfast crowd, launching All Day Breakfast Slice in October 2023 followed by All Day Breakfast Pie in April. The supplier says both products are proving popular, achieving value sales of £795,000.

“We’re never complacent,” says Pukka CEO Isaac Fisher. “We act like a challenger brand, constantly disrupting the category with trend-led innovation.”

To this end, Pukka is hoping to shake up the category with its World Flavours range of parcels, added in the autumn.

“This new range is designed to appeal to a younger audience seeking great-tasting convenience foods, but makes these exciting flavours accessible to our loyal fans who may not have tried them before,” Fisher adds.

Convenience begets sales

A further brand looking to meet demand for convenience is Pieminister, another of this year’s success stories. Value is up 6.6% on a 3.4% volume gain.

The brand rolled out a new format – the Handy Pie. It’s ‘grabbable’-shaped pie that can be eaten directly from the packaging hot or cold. Four variants, including Banger & Bean and Chicken Tikka, launched into Waitrose and Ocado in April.

Also that month, Peter’s rolled out its Epic Rolls brand. Sold in bright, bold packaging, the six-strong range of 130g sausage rolls includes such innovative variants as Cheese Burger, Chicken & Gravy, and Hot Dog with Ketchup.

The new rolls have won chiller space in Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Iceland, and further listings are in the pipeline.

The core Peter’s brand has a had a less promising year. It’s among the top 10 names to have recorded a fall in volumes – although the Welsh business says it has been focused on driving sales in its homeland, where it has continued to see growth.

Volumes are also down at Higgidy. It’s seen a 3.2% decline. Value has fallen, too – by 2.4%. In response, the business has streamlined some of its range and reworked products to offer better value.

“A prime example is our recently relaunched hot pie range,” says Higgidy CEO Rachel Kelley. “We reduced our SKU count from eight to six, improved our recipes and reintroduced the products at a lower price point.” Despite being on the market for only a few weeks, rate of sale has already increased 33%, she adds.

That Higgidy’s posh pastries have struggled this past year isn’t wholly surprising. “Premium/quality positioning has not resonated as much with shoppers” as mainstream brands that have focused on a more traditional approach, says Rees at NIQ.

And, for all the innovative recipes being unveiled, there’s still huge demand for classic fillings and formats.

Compleat Food Group’s Manley confirms this: “Pies are very much still flavour of the month,” he says, “with traditional homely recipes, including steak and chicken, remaining extremely popular, particularly with an older shopper.”

Demand for meat-free

While mince & onion and chicken & leek are among Brits’ top filling choices, they are still finding room in their fridges for meat-free options.

“Demand for meat-free products has been relatively stable, though more people are opting for meat-free swaps rather than following a strict meat-free diet,” says Stowers at Ginsters.

Which is why – despite the recent shake-up in the wider meat-free market – established pie and pastry brands continue to roll out new or improved lines. Take Wall’s, which in August overhauled its vegan sausage roll to make it a closer match to a traditional meat sausage roll.

That was after Pukka launched Vegan No Steak Pie and No Steak Slice in January, and before Bells Food Group rolled out No Steak Pie in time for Christmas.

Looks like the category’s development chefs really have been working hard to earn their crust.

Read more: Savoury pastries 2023: Shoppers ditch pastries as prices soar