SP OTLIGH T

Joanna Hunter

Piglet’s Pantry was formed in 2010 as a small retail bakery outlet in Shoreham-by-Sea. It wasn’t started with a particular vision or goal; just to give founder Joanna Hunter a business and a salary to live on.

13 years and four premises later, the company is now a multi award-winning catering company selling mostly to over 370 sporting venues across the UK. Joanna spoke to Dynamic’s ALAN WARES about her journey so far e rst thing you notice when you pull up outside Piglet’s Pantry’s factory in Worthing is the aroma. Don’t ever go there while hungry – the smell of freshly baked pastry, along with whatever lling is being prepared at the time, will send you dizzy. is is Piglet’s fourth premises, and each one considerably larger than the previous one. Jo greets me in the reception area which has doubled for something it looks exactly like –a television kitchen set. It’s daubed in pink; all as a nod to the cartoon colour of piglets. e Operations Director at Brighton & Hove Albion was walking around, and I asked just one question – ‘does “Community Stadium” mean you’ll be using people in the community to supply goods?’ I wasn’t actually thinking to pitch anything to them. I was actually genuinely interested.

Jo tells her story. “It was in February 2011; Piglet’s had been launched six months earlier, and I had taken my sons to the new stadium at Falmer to buy their season tickets.

“ ey had had a very large pie competitor in the day before but he had put them in the bin and he said they were awful.” Jo o ers a huge grin at that point. She was invited to pitch for the pie concession, having been told that she would need to make 2,500 pies per game. Upon mentioning that gure, she o ers another knowing grin, probably on the back of what we all know now.

Long story, short – she beat all-comers, won the concession, and her pies were an immediate hit. On the day of the stadium’s rst match, all pies were sold out in 15 minutes; 2,500 pies across 27 kiosks - all gone. Ultimately, after six weeks – or four matches – the pie order had gone up to 10,000. is was a major problem. Piglet’s had been using space at the stadium to make the pies, and now they were being ejected because they were taking up too much room. New premises had to be found - and fast.

“I was given a tip by someone at the University of Brighton about some premises in Worthing,” says Jo. “From e ectively being made homeless, I had to set up a new kitchen, acquire equipment, make 10,000 pies and ful l that order all in one week. I literally didn’t sleep for three days. Others brought in sleeping bags just to get the order out.”

Standard business practice would probably dictate that going from nothing to 10,000 pies in no time at all isn’t the best business model. “It was so poor from my point of view. We had no infrastructure, no investment, no cash. I took out a personal loan with Lloyds. My bank manager back then was very helpful; though it’s the only time the banks have helped me.” Jo remembers.

“I can’t stress enough how having local networks has helped me. I have a nancial advisor, who has found me pockets of investment here and there over the years. ese days, I am a lot more experienced. Back then, I had to learn very quickly about the idea of knowing what I didn’t know. Without that network, I’d have failed.” e order was ful lled, and - give or take the usual potholes along any business’ way – Piglet’s has since grown into a company employing over 100 full-time sta , and six permanent delivery drivers. e pies, sausage rolls and other pastries have won multiple awards across the catering and sports industries.

When it comes to talking about a woman owning her own company in two heavily male-dominated industries - catering and football – Jo is fairly ambivalent, almost to the point of shrugging her shoulders.

“Luckily, females have more presece now. It’s good to see that there has been a change, but it’s taken years. I’ve always been in a male-dominated world. I was one female chef in a kitchen of 20 men. When I did my catering management apprenticeship, you were shouted out, things got thrown across the kitchen, you ducked…

“Within football, I learned that you surround yourself with good people. Always employ people who are smarter than you are. So if you don’t know enough about the nance, or sales, or whatever, go and nd somebody smarter than you, and you make sure that they can deliver for you.” e ambivalence is an attitude she takes forward for International Women’s Day. “People send me good messages and say, ‘you’re an amazing woman in business’, etc, which is lovely. And I’m very grateful to all those people.

“But I do wish we didn’t have to do it,” she opines. “Yes, I am a businesswoman; a very proud business owner. But I just happen to be in business, and a woman – and it shouldn’t matter that I am a woman.”

When pushed, Jo sees herself as a disruptor, and her explanation for this self-appraisal makes sense. “We weren’t taken seriously at rst, which has allowed us to get on with what we do best. We’re now in 14 Premier League clubs (out of 20), and to have done that, in the manner that we have, is a rst. We changed the model within football.” www.pigletspantry.co.uk