While sales of organic bakery products plunged by 39% last year, according to last week's Soil Association report, Honeyrose was bucking the trend, marketing boss Adrian Apodaca told Foodmanufacture.co.uk: "We are adding capacity as fast as we can, including nights. The future for organic quality cakes, from our viewpoint, looks bright.”
Honeyrose, which recently purchased the assets of London-based Greenwich Cakes after the latter went into voluntary liquidation last year, has been gradually transferring the kit to its new factory in Park Royal, London, which had “lots of spare capacity” to facilitate the firm’s growth plans, said Apodaca.
He added: “As a counterweight to the ongoing gloomy stories on the decline of organic sales, we would like to offer our own, actual experience.
"Sales of our Honeyrose brand of organic cakes surged 78% in the first quarter of 2010 compared with the first quarter of 2009 and over the last six months we have added more new business, including launching several lines in Sainsbury's, and several other new customers.”
Supermarkets shift focus back to premium
While the major multiples had reduced the space devoted to organics in 2008/2009 as the recession started to bite, some of them were beginning to shift their attention back to the category, he said.
And manufacturers that had not lost their nerve during the downturn were the best-placed to respond: “When the consumer's spending power returns, as we believe is happening now, companies that have stuck to quality over taking easy shortcuts will be in a much stronger position. The consumer will ignore cheap, tasteless cut-price versions of the real thing and reward firms like us for sticking to our values in the hard times as well.”
Honeyrose manufactures organic brownies, muffins, cookies and flapjacks for the retail and catering sector, with listings in 400 Sainsbury's stores and more than 100 Waitrose outlets. About 30% of its range is gluten-free, which represented a major growth opportunity, said Apodaca. “Gluten-free is very sexy right now.”
The firm, which was founded by entrepreneur Lise Madsen in 2000, was confident of increasing turnover by 50% this year from £2m to £3m, he said.