An entrepreneurial pie-making company which pivoted its business after lockdown to offer delivery has gone on to scoop a highly coveted food taste award. If it hadn't switched over to expanding to the home delivery arena, the business that was 'on a cliff edge' may not have survived.
Yorkshire Handmade Pies based in Ripon make traditional pies using founder James Sturdy's granddad's recipe. The company's clients, who were restaurants, pubs and eateries, decreased overnight when Covid-19 took the country into lockdown.
Left reeling with the shrinking of his core market, James was forced to act quickly by expanding into home-delivery. As reported by Yorkshire Live, James said: "We came up with the idea of launching a home delivery service, we got the brand name and launched the service in April 2020, just after the lockdown."
As many businesses shut up after lockdown, the pandemic helped get Yorkshire Handmade Pies off the ground. James added: "The normal revenue the business relied on had gone.
"We managed to find a way to sell the product in another way. That was how we got through lockdown.
"It got popular really quickly, especially because people were looking for different food options. Food was a big part of people's days and they were willing to find new things.
"It took off far more quickly than we realised. We had to get new facilities to cope with the demand and we have just grown from there really.
"We are keen on partnering with local farmers too. All the beef comes from one farm and a native breed of cattle, we like to think of this as celebrating other Yorkshire producers and offering a quality eating experience from farm to fork."
James isn't the only pie-maker in his family. James' grandad originally had a butchers shop that made handmade pies.
His family found some photos of James' grandad making pies in 1930 and even managed to decipher a family recipe from the footage. James said: "My grandad made pies before I knew they existed.
"There has been a break between me and my grandad but pies have been in my family before me. We managed to get pie recipes that were detailed on the footage.
"It is nice keeping it in the family business and to be another pie-maker. It was another member of the family that did some research and found out my grandad used to make pies.
"They sent us some footage of them making pies in the shop. It was a great find."
Since launching Yorkshire Handmade Pies in 2020 the business has gone on to be named among the best food and drink producers in the world, earning a three-star rating from Great Taste Awards. James added: "Myself and the team were blown away by winning the award.
"The Great Taste Awards are the most prestigious you can enter. With over 14,000 entries that go in every year, there are only 30% that do win any award, which are usually one star, but less than 1% win a three star award.
"It totally blew us away. It was a total morale booster and validation to the hard work and commitment to the quality and taste that goes into the business and that we give our customers."
Yorkshire Handmade Pies serve everything from standard and traditional pies to popular favourites and specialist bakes. Flavours include Yorkshire Wagyu beef with Wensleydale blue cheese, braised herb-fed chicken with smoked bacon, and Yorkshire samosa pie which is vegan.