Village Bakery
We helped Village Bakery grow into a leading UK producer of artisanal quality baked goods, delivering category-defining product innovation from one of the best invested bakery facilities in Europe.
Sector
Manufacturing
Date acquired
March 2021
Deal type
Private sale
Website
Exit
July 2024 to a strategic buyer
Location
Wrexham, Wales
Overview
Village Bakery produces premium private label baked goods at scale for leading brands across the retail, hospitality and food service sectors in the UK. Its customers are provided with exceptional products, unmatched innovation and peerless service levels. Village Bakery achieves this thanks to a skilled team working in well-invested, highly efficient production facilities.
Limerston met Robin and Christien Jones in early 2019 and were immediately impressed by their determination and ambition to be best-in-class producers. The focus on the best quality products, the highest levels of customer service and continuous reinvestment in their 3rd generation family business was evident. In early 2021, we were delighted to be able to secure a control investment in Village Bakery and partner with Robin and Christien for this next period of growth.
With Limerston’s support, Village Bakery opened a new 140,000 square foot production facility in August 2021 providing the scope for transformational future growth and complementing its existing 132,000 square feet of capacity.
What we did and how we exited
Limerston helped the Village Bakery develop a multi-channel commercial strategy that embraces existing and new customers, markets and products. Combined with the strength of product innovation and relentless focus on quality, this enabled the business to fill significant existing capacity and turn to making targeted investments to fulfil new contract wins.
As part of this strategy, Village Bakery launched a market-leading sourdough product range. Upon securing a major supply contract, the company invested in a state-of-the-art sourdough line to deliver this artisanal product on a national scale. This successful approach was replicated across several other high-growth product categories.
In parallel with driving rapid top-line growth, we worked with the team to build a scalable organisation. This included establishing strong leadership across key functions, implementing robust IT infrastructure, and developing operational and financial systems to enable data-driven decision-making, all whilst fostering a culture of continuous improvement.
Following significant interest from potential buyers as Village Bakery's scale and prominence grew, we successfully sold the business to strategic buyer Menissez in July 2024.
>45%
IRR
>2.5x
EBITDA Growth
<3.5 years
Hold period