Patties Foods Limited (PFL) is a leading branded frozen food company in Australia, with market leadership in the frozen savoury, dessert and fruit segments. Founded in 1966, the company has its main operations base at its production facility in Bairnsdale, Victoria, Australia and employs around 650 employees.
Products are available throughout Australia via an extensive network of Food service and Retail outlets, they also have sales offices located in many of the major cities in Australia.
Patties were keen to expand into the UK market, however, prior to launching in the UK Patties approached JMB to conduct a feasibility study.
The objective was two-fold firstly to test market traction through direct introductions with potential clients and secondly to gain valuable insight into the UK market place to ensure success and identify the most appropriate business model to adopt.
The JMB Approach.
After initial product training was agreed that JMB would target 2 groups:
- In Home Channel: Directly targeting food/ grocery retail chains and buying groups
- Out of Home Channel: Suppliers of frozen foods/ snacks to out of home eating establishments e.g. Train Stations, Garages, Restaurants, Cafes, Take Away Food outlets, etc. [This in effect required The JMB Partnership to target Distributors, Wholesalers and Importers to these outlets.
JMB’s Lead Generation consultant established direct contacts with key prospects in the market place, introducing the brand offering, increasing recognition and securing high profile meetings.
The Results.
JMB conducted a full meeting programme with leading UK retailers, including TESCO.
This activity and the market insight obtained during this campaign was crucial to helping shape Patties Foods longer term strategy into the UK.
The insight they gained also enabled then to refine their UK market strategy prior to launching operations and a HQ. An exercise which would otherwise increase risk and expenditure.