Rewind 12 months and Real Good Food (RGF) had a problem – a £31.1m shaped-one because of its debts. Moving forward to this week's annual general meeting and it would appear the shackles are off.
The disposal of its Napier Brown sugar refining business for £34m earlier this year has re-energised the company. This dumping of a weight around its neck, coupled with revitalised strategies for its remaining businesses, along with the acquisition of Rainbow Dust Colours mean that the management of RGF think the future is bright… the future is multi-coloured.
As Andrew Brown, group brand and marketing director, explained at the meeting, the company is now pursuing a strategy of being market-led. In reference to Renshaw, the jewel in RGF’s crown, he said: "It’s all about flexibility: they [the customers] really do want 40 colours, so we need to be able to do it."
A multi-coloured future indeed, and one, thanks to the Napier Brown disposal, that means there is money in the bank.
The total group figures for last year were dominated by the market issues in sugar which impacted both Napier Brown and Garrett Ingredients.
Pieter Totté, executive chairman, RGF
Across the board, the company expressed a clarity of purpose. There has been investment in lots of different departments across all the businesses within the group, especially within sales and marketing, with executive chairman Pieter Totté being praised internally for providing resource where it was needed. "We will support when required. Sometimes they do not need the help and do it themselves," said Brown as he explained how the companies within the group had also been given greater autonomy.
Commenting on Renshaw, Brown said the Liverpool-based institution, which has the Royal Warrant, had just had a great year. “But it happens that last year was the fruits of labour over a two- to three-year period.”
The company will be looking Renshaw's sugar paste within the next 12 months, there will also be some development work with its modelling paste and some work with marzipan. Some 25% of Renshaw’s sales are now exports and the company is seeing growth in Australia and the US, with B2B sales also developing.
"It's all about flexibility: they [the customers] really do want 40 colours, so we need to be able to do it."
Real Good Food Europe has been given a boost, said the company, with the opening of a new warehouse in Brussels. The European arm has also launched new tropical recipe for Renshaw and the wider group sees great synergies with RDC.
Marketing head Brown said the work done at Haydens Bakery in recent years exemplified the new strategy at RGF to be more customer-focused. Haydens used to produce hundreds of products for essentially just Waitrose and Marks & Spencer. Now, the Wiltshire-based baker has in the region of seven customers and is concentrating on six core lines of products. New customers include the coffee shop chains Costa and Caffè Nero which is "an important sector for premium bakery", he added.
The new customer-led strategy was simple, said Brown. “If you are going to succeed, invest in the markets and the products that the markets want.”
For more on Real Good Food see the next issue of British Baker.
