Savoury products business Peter’s Food Services has paid tribute to Peter Thomas following his death at the age of 79 after being diagnosed with lung cancer.
The Thomas family built a multi-million-pound business - famed for its Peter’s Pies - before selling it to Grand Metropolitan in 1988 in a £75m deal.
Peter Thomas, a former chairman of Cardiff rugby and long-term financial benefactor of the Arms Park club having investing millions of pounds of his own money, ran the business with his surviving brother Sir Stanley Thomas.
The company was originally set up by their father Thomas Stanley Thomas in their hometown of Merthyr in the 1950s as Thomas Pies, before moving to the current day firm’s operation in Bedwas in 1970 where it became known as Peter’s Pies. The brothers took over the running of the company after their father, who died at the age 98 in 2015, retired from the business in the 1986.
Though the Thomas family’s commercial interest in the business ended with its acquisition by Grand Metropolitan they maintained a close affinity with it. Grand Metropolitan’s ownership of the company was though short lived and the business has since gone through a number of ownership cycles. Today it has a turnover of more than £57m and a 650-plus workforce.
Mike Grimwood, managing director of Peter’s Food Service, said: “We are saddened to hear of the passing of Peter Thomas.
“Peter was a humble gentleman, who with his brother Stan, built upon his father’s vision and enthusiasm for the business, developing the highly successful Peter’s company we see today.
“He never lost his connection to Peter’s and despite his success after leaving the business, he would regularly keep in touch to see how things were and sharing in our successes such as our recent 50th anniversary. He will be greatly missed by all of us."
