George Weston beefs up Big Ben capacity

George Weston beefs up Big Ben capacity to support new XXL pies

Auckland, 25 March, 2015 – George Weston Foods is investing more than $5 million in new plant and equipment for its Wiri factory, the home of Big Ben Pies. This will increase production capacity and will lead to the creation of new jobs.

The investment is to enable the company to meet anticipated demand for its expanding range of pies and sausage rolls including two new products to be launched by the end of this month. The factory, which employs over 100 people, supplies Big Ben pies, as well as the Tip Top Hamburger Buns and Burgen Gluten Free bread, to supermarkets, petrol stations, dairies, canteens and cafeterias throughout New Zealand.

Last June the company launched Big Ben El Mexicano, which now accounts for 24 percent of unit sales of Big Ben’s XXL™ brand.

Encouraged by that success, George Weston looked at other opportunities to innovate and at what demands that would place on its existing capacity.

“Innovation is essential, even for a food category as traditional as pies,” says Mark Adam, New Zealand General Manager for George Weston Foods. “You can attribute Big Ben’s continuing strong performance in a hotly contested category to our willingness to try new ideas that we believe will prove popular with consumers.”

Following extensive market research the company decided to add butter chicken and lasagne pies to its Big Ben XXL range.

“The real question around launching a butter chicken pie under the Big Ben brand is, ‘Why didn’t we do it sooner?’” says Mr Adam. “Butter chicken is New Zealand’s most popular Indian dish, and when we asked Big Ben customers, 62 percent told us they loved the idea of a butter chicken pie. We think Big Ben Butter Chicken XXL will be a winner.”

The choice of a second pie wasn’t so obvious. “We know that Kiwis look online for food ideas and we discovered that lasagne was the seventh most searched for recipe in New Zealand,” said Mr Adam. “We think Kiwis will really connect with this one: it’s made to a traditional Kiwi recipe – with real beef, and lots of it.”

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