Pork snacking brand Snaffling Pig has raised a six-figure sum to regrow the brand following a damaging product recall last year.
The UK’s second largest pork snacking player has beaten an initial £150k crowdfunding target on Crowdcube, valuing the business at £11.1m, and is currently overfunding at £185k.
The fundraising is part of a drive to re-establish the brand, which suffered a “supply chain crisis” in early 2022 after a salmonella contamination resulted in a full nationwide recall of every pork rind product it produced.
Sales fell back £1.5m to £4.2m as production closed for “several months” for investigation and a factory refit.
It has since recovered to post a “strong” final quarter of 2022 and will use the funds to grow retail listings again, which currently include Tesco and Ocado. It also plans to unveil new products and flavours, and invest in a team to tap on-trade opportunities.
Since its factory reopened, it has created a new ‘Popped Pork’ produce, a non-fried air-popped meat snack that boasts high protein and low calorie credentials, and will use some of the funds to support this rollout.
A spokesman said: “We survived through pivots, grit and determination. We worked relentlessly at reducing our overheads, leaning into our other product categories such as beer, nuts, Chorizo Bites, our newly launched Bacon Jerky and our range of BBQs.
“We kept our heads down and worked through it, all while delivering exceptional customer service. And now we are optimistic about what’s ahead of us again.”
The brand previously raised nearly £1.3m on Crowdcube in 2019 to fund its expansion into the wider pork market amid plans to hit £30m of sales by 2024.
It was running a process to find external investment in 2021 amid strong turnover growth, but the process was halted by the product recall crisis.
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