Bart Ingredients narrowed its losses last year after price rises helped claw back profit margins lost to high inflation, latest accounts showed.
Inflation has proved tough on the herbs and spices manufacturer, which made a second consecutive loss in 2023 having reliably been in profit since 2016.
Ingredient costs began to rise in 2021 as suppliers warned of 50% price hikes. However, it took more than a year for this to hit supermarket shelves, with spice prices eventually peaking at 34% in March 2023, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Price hikes helped Bart regain margins and cut operating losses from £1.4m in 2022 to £500k last year. Revenue was also boosted with a 21% leap to £49.9m.
Prices of packaging and raw materials remained higher than in 2022, the accounts said, while wages have also had to rise significantly to remain competitive.
Bart is a subsidiary of Fuchs Group, the largest European spice manufacturer, based in Germany.
Herbs and spices are now finally getting cheaper again, with prices falling 1.6% in July, according to the ONS.
Olive oil (38%), cocoa and powdered chocolate (20%), and fortified wines (17%), remain the products seeing the biggest hikes.
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