PK Food Concepts completes bolt-on acquisition

PK Food Concepts Ltd (“PK Food Concepts Ltd” or, “the Group”), the healthy on-the-go food producer and marketer previously known as Pasta King, has acquired Tasties of Chester Ltd (“Tasties”). PK Food Concepts was subject to a management buy-in backed by NBGI Private Equity (“NBGIPE”) in November 2009.

Both PK Food Concepts and Tasties supply healthy, on-the-go meal solutions to the food service market nationwide, with a focus on the education, health, sport and travel sectors. Brought together, they will enable both businesses to market a wider range of products to their respective customer bases, accelerate levels of innovation, and increase the flexibility with which these products can be delivered to the consumer. PK Food Concepts is based in Newton Abbot and Tasties is based in Chester.

Pasta King has recently been brought under the brand umbrella of PK Food Concepts to reflect the widened product offering now marketed by the Group to its customers. New products developed since the original buyout and now marketed by PK Food Concepts include:

• Spice Connections, a curry and rice based on-the-go meal, using the myskinny rice brand, which utilises the same, free-on-loan model as the original Pasta King offering on which the Group was founded;

• Wallace and Gromit Pasta, a primary school pasta offering run in conjunction with the Wallace and Gromit Children’s Foundation which is now rolling out to Primary Schools nationwide; 

• EVN, a chilled healthy microwavable Pasta and Rice, eat on the move snack, and 

• PK Pockets, a warm breaktime snack.

Chief Executive of PK Food Concepts, Howard Farquhar, said:

“The Tasties acquisition will have a significant benefit to new and existing customers for both Pasta King and Tasties. Customers are increasingly looking for suppliers to provide broader product and more innovative offerings with the cost benefits of single drop distribution.”

NBGI Private Equity Investment Director and Board Director of PK Food Concepts, Richard Babington said:

“PK Food Concepts has been a real success story for NBGIPE since our Fund invested in the Business in November 2009. In a single step, the acquisition of Tasties more than doubles our existing production capacity, provides the flexibility to expand the range of products we can develop and bring to market and more than quadruples the size of our delivery fleet.”

Richard Brown, the previous owner of Tasties, will remain in the business as Managing Director, together with the incumbent management team. Funding for the transaction was satisfied from the substantial cash balances built up by the Group since acquisition. Eversheds’ Birmingham and Nottingham offices (Catherine Eley, Alistair Hardie, Sarah-Jayne Halls) provided legal advice to the Group, with KPMG Bristol (Jon Deacon, Gareth Knee) providing financial due diligence services. The vendor was advised by DTM Legal (Edward Barnes, Matthew Robinson) and DSG (Chris Wheatley).