Client Spotlight: Piglets Pantry

In this client spotlight, we had the pleasure of speaking with the team at Piglets Pantry, a family run bakery bringing joy to customers nationwide with their award-winning sweet and savoury treats. Founded in 2011 by Joanna Hunter, Piglets has grown from a small bakery in a restaurant front to supplying stadiums and delivering beautifully packaged afternoon tea boxes across the UK. With four family members still at the heart of the business, Piglets Pantry continues to handcraft every bite with care, quality, and creativity.

Tell us about your business! 

We’re a catering business at heart. We started out B2B (Business to Business) supplying stadiums and venues, then during Covid we pivoted slightly to offer B2C (Business to Consumer) UK wide with products such as afternoon teas, hampers, gift packages. We find that days like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Easter, Valentine’s Day are our busiest times of the year. We offer a range of categories, including budget friendly and high end options, vegan, vegetarian - you name it! We’re a proud family business that was started by Joanna Hunter in 2011. She started with a bakery at the front of a restaurant with her son. One day she got talking to someone at the Amex Stadium in Brighton, leading her to putting her hat in the ring. She ultimately won the catering contract and quickly went from supplying 2000 pies to 10,000 pies - all of which were handmade with family and friends - we still work with the Amex today. This contract quickly grew to us supplying other stadia and venues which has been great for our brand, alongside working with hundreds of clients up and down the country. Fun fact - 4 members of the family are actively involved today!

What challenges do you face most often — and how do you overcome them? 

Logistics

When we first started selling B2C everything changed overnight, we knew we’d need to try something different and would need a website. So by having the extra time on our hands, we put together and launched our website. This led us to finding so many things we didn’t think about during the initial planning phase, such as including a plastic insert to make sure the food doesn’t move around while shipping. In the early days, we had various issues with packaging, couriers, and ultimately getting the products to our customers fresh and on time, so we constantly review our packaging and work with suppliers to ensure that all the moving parts work well together. 

Branding

Also, we like to be a fun brand, and we constantly want to ensure we keep our branding fun and show that we care about our customers and all our orders. We have to constantly think of new, fun marketing ideas to keep our customers engaged and either coming back for more or spreading the word. 

What made you choose instantprint?

Our graphic designer was already familiar with instantprint, and the turnarounds you offer are key. We sometimes have to do things right at the last minute, so it's good to know that our orders will be sorted in time. The website is easy to use and it helps that we can see the proofs before it goes to print and if we need to change anything, it’s not complicated at all. Simplicity is key. 

Thinking about your wins with print marketing, what advice would you give to businesses like yours?

With everything going digital, it’s easy to forget about and ignore print. Especially with an ecommerce business, so by having something personal which goes out with your order, like a quick thank you note, you give people a reason to support you and want to order from you again, while showing that you genuinely care. Someone might see a viral post and never think about you again, but with print, you can build a relationship and long term loyalty.

How do you use print to make your customers feel special and understood?

We often use words like “joining the family” as we welcome them and provide an insight into our business, but also to show that we care about them. We’re not just looking to “sell, sell, sell”, but our founder, Jo set up the business with the aim of making people happy and enjoy our food. This is achieved by providing a good quality experience with quality ingredients. This is still a core value to this day. We’ve found that by including leaflets and review cards it’s something they can refer back to which is personal for our customers. We also like to give a discount code so they’ve got something they can come back to whether it’s in their drawers or on their fridge to encourage repeat orders when the next event comes up, like a birthday or anniversary. On our packaging we like to add fun and cheeky messages like “every time you place an order, someone does a happy dance!” just to make it a bit more personal and encourage our customers to look twice and look forward to our communications. 

What kind of print products do you order from us and how have they helped support your goals?

Our most regular order is leaflets, we have one which goes in every single box which thanks customers for their order, summarises our company and includes a picture of Jo. We also order all of our business cards for networking from instantprint, we also use business cards to encourage Trustpilot reviews in some orders. These are all things which ensure that we encourage repeat business and stay at the front of everyone's minds. However there is a range of other products we order as and when required.

What are your top print tips for other creators or businesses?

Don’t disregard print. Print is still important in a digital landscape. It gives you a physical presence in your customers’ homes and businesses, with something physical they can come back to at a later date. However, something digital is likely to disappear into the sea of millions of other things on your devices. You can’t pick up an email, you can pick up a leaflet. It feels more personal, as for the customer it feels like it’s specifically for them, giving them a reason to stay loyal.

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