Pieminister serves up just £1,000 profit after absorbing costs to keep menu prices down

Pieminister made a pre-tax profit of just £1,000 during its latest financial year after absorbing rising costs in a bid to keep menu prices down as much as possible.

The Bristol-headquartered company had previously reported a pre-tax profit of £887,000 during the prior 12 months.

According to newly-filed accounts for the year to March 31, 2023, Pieminister’s revenue only edged up slightly from £17m to £17.1m.

Pieminister said the rise in its sales was due to “lapping the tail end” of Covid-19 restrictions in the previous year.

‘Relentless’ inflation

The company added: “Cost price inflation for ingredients, packaging, labour and energy has been relentless over the period in both our operating channels.

“Whilst some of the cost price increases have been passed onto customers and consumers, the business has found it necessary to absorb much of the increases incurred itself to keep our products affordable and delivering great value for money.

“This has resulted in a dilution in gross margin compared to the previous period, however, the company continues to strive for an improvement in this metric in future reporting periods.”

Founded in 2003, Pieminister has restaurants in Bristol, Bath, Cardiff, Derby, Leeds, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, Oxford, Sheffield and Stoke-on-Trent.

During the year, the average number of people employed by Pieminister increased from 274 to 293.

‘Innovation remains a key focus’

On its future, Pieminister added: “The group will continue to seek advancement in profitability metrics, investing in our manufacturing facility where appropriate, to ensure optimal efficiencies can be achieved.

“In addition we will continue to work with our trusted partners in the supply chain to maintain the highest of standards in the gods that we produce.

“In the retail channel the business model has been simplified and adapted to focus on the elements that have proved to be robust over the past two years and this now forms the foundation of the franchise model.

“Innovation remains a key focus to deliver top line growth in future periods for all operations within the group.”