After six years on the festival circuit, gourmet pie maker Pieminister has risen from the mosh-pits of Glastonbury to the shelves of the mults. Nick Hughes discovers what’s next for the company
The unwashed hordes who returned from Glastonbury this week may be feeling glum that the fun's over for another year but at least they can relive one of the festival's foodie highlights.
Pieminister, which has been making gourmet pies for revellers on the festival circuit since 2004, is now winning growing listings in the multiples.
The Bristol-based company has graduated from the festival fringe to the main stage in the past two years. In 2008, it secured its first retail listings with Waitrose and has since gone nationwide with Sainsbury's and Tescos in affluent areas, as well as a handful of Asdas in its native south west. It also operates five pie shops, 15 market stalls and supplies numerous foodservice operators. From a turnover of £500,000 in 2005, the business generated £5m last year and is on target to hit £7m in the current financial year.
"The market is growing, the business is growing, the retail side is growing, we're doing 60 festivals this summer from Glastonbury down to farm open days," enthuses Simon, who co-founded Pieminister in 2003 with brother-in-law Tristan Hogg as a pie & mash shop in Bristol.
The pie market is indeed growing at about 3% a year with much of that growth at the premium end. Simon whose fillings include staples such as steak & kidney and pork & bacon as well as Thai green chicken curry, goats cheese, and sweet potato & spinach is happy to take some of the credit for what he calls "a pie movement". "Higgidy, ourselves and Square Pie changed the market. We all started at roughly the same time. A lot of it came from people moving from Australia where there's more of a pie culture and where pies are generally much better quality."
At about £3 for a 270g pie, Pieminister pies are not cheap, but Simon says you can't compromise on quality. Despite moving to a new, bigger plant in Bristol two years ago, every pie is still handmade and uses the "best-quality ingredients".
It's this commitment to quality that gives Simon courage in facing down the big brand-owners entering the premium pie market in a bid to squeeze out the smaller players. "It's very difficult to do on a big scale without making lots of compromises so the barrier to entry is quite high. We make pies the way people did 50 years ago."
Customers are buying into the philosophy. Simon points to data from Sainsbury's, which shows 40% of people who buy Pieminister pies haven't entered the pie aisle before, proving that the brand is growing the category. Having established its core range in the pie aisle, Pieminister is poised to unveil a range of mini pies aimed at "smaller appetites" in the autumn, with Simon keen to bring more women and children into the pie category.
Talk of Pieminister extending beyond pies, meanwhile, is played down. "We've looked at other categories but first and foremost we want to be known for pies. We're well financed, we're making a profit, we're in a good facility. We're in a good place."
The unwashed hordes who returned from Glastonbury this week may be feeling glum that the fun's over for another year but at least they can relive one of the festival's foodie highlights.
Pieminister, which has been making gourmet pies for revellers on the festival circuit since 2004, is now winning growing listings in the multiples.
The Bristol-based company has graduated from the festival fringe to the main stage in the past two years. In 2008, it secured its first retail listings with Waitrose and has since gone nationwide with Sainsbury's and Tescos in affluent areas, as well as a handful of Asdas in its native south west. It also operates five pie shops, 15 market stalls and supplies numerous foodservice operators. From a turnover of £500,000 in 2005, the business generated £5m last year and is on target to hit £7m in the current financial year.
"The market is growing, the business is growing, the retail side is growing, we're doing 60 festivals this summer from Glastonbury down to farm open days," enthuses Simon, who co-founded Pieminister in 2003 with brother-in-law Tristan Hogg as a pie & mash shop in Bristol.
The pie market is indeed growing at about 3% a year with much of that growth at the premium end. Simon whose fillings include staples such as steak & kidney and pork & bacon as well as Thai green chicken curry, goats cheese, and sweet potato & spinach is happy to take some of the credit for what he calls "a pie movement". "Higgidy, ourselves and Square Pie changed the market. We all started at roughly the same time. A lot of it came from people moving from Australia where there's more of a pie culture and where pies are generally much better quality."
At about £3 for a 270g pie, Pieminister pies are not cheap, but Simon says you can't compromise on quality. Despite moving to a new, bigger plant in Bristol two years ago, every pie is still handmade and uses the "best-quality ingredients".
It's this commitment to quality that gives Simon courage in facing down the big brand-owners entering the premium pie market in a bid to squeeze out the smaller players. "It's very difficult to do on a big scale without making lots of compromises so the barrier to entry is quite high. We make pies the way people did 50 years ago."
Customers are buying into the philosophy. Simon points to data from Sainsbury's, which shows 40% of people who buy Pieminister pies haven't entered the pie aisle before, proving that the brand is growing the category. Having established its core range in the pie aisle, Pieminister is poised to unveil a range of mini pies aimed at "smaller appetites" in the autumn, with Simon keen to bring more women and children into the pie category.
Talk of Pieminister extending beyond pies, meanwhile, is played down. "We've looked at other categories but first and foremost we want to be known for pies. We're well financed, we're making a profit, we're in a good facility. We're in a good place."
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