Sturdy Foods, a 90-year-old Ripon company built on the solid foundations of pie making, is to create new jobs after it switched to making pizzas during lockdown.

Founded by James Sturdy’s great grandfather in 1930, the business suffered major setbacks with a factory fire in 2019, followed by this year’s coronavirus crisis. Restaurants and bars which account for 95% of the company’s turnover stopped buying pies.

Mr Sturdy, who was determined not to close the factory and to support his staff, made the decision to look for new opportunities – a move that has brought a dramatic change in the company’s fortunes.

He said:

“Having gone through the fire at the factory the previous year, I was determined to face lockdown head on and keep the factory running. We immediately reviewed the production line, and with some straightforward changes switched our production to oven ready pizzas.

“It wasn’t an easy time as we then had to completely change our supply chain to delis and retail outlets within the Yorkshire area, but the demand was there, and we were ready to fill it.”

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The pizza line proved such a success that the company has also launched a new range of pies, this time selling directly to the public through a dedicated new website. Yorkshire Handmade Pies was born and offers a range of hand-crafted products.

Focusing again on local suppliers and supporting other local firms including R & J’s Yorkshire’s Finest Butchers, they are now delivering nationwide.

Mr Sturdy added:

“We have been overwhelmed by the success of launching Yorkshire Handmade Pies and have received orders from as far as the Isle of Bute, the Isle of Wight and everywhere in between. We felt there was a gap in the market for a proper quality made pie, and the increase in online shopping during lockdown helped to fuel sales.”

With restaurants and bars opening again at the start of July the next challenge for the Sturdy Foods, based at Barker Business Park, is its ability to continue to supply its previous customer base.

The company has now taken on three additional staff, with plans to take on another three before Christmas, taking the number of employees to 13.