Classic Cuisine Limited are creators of award-winning sweet and savoury dishes. The business has been operating for 30 years, with a client base that includes national pub groups, high street restaurant chains, large wholesale companies, leisure groups and selected retail. The business has two sub-brands, Made Without & Cookoo Foods. Cookoo Foods was formed during the pandemic to allow dishes to be delivered to homes, all being hand-crafted, free-from, plant-based, vegetarian and vegan.
Jeeva Sanmugam, Managing Director of Classic Cuisine Limited, reached out to the Manufacturing Growth Programme (MGP) for help to promote the Classic Cuisine brands in a highly competitive marketplace and ensure that its unique attributes were effectively communicated and consistently promoted.
Adrian Waters, Manufacturing Growth Manager for MGP, supported the business through an in-depth analysis of the business to identify their barriers for growth. Using the findings of this diagnostic process, Adrian organised for an expert to conduct a business improvement project to undertake a review of all of the businesses current digital marketing and e-commerce activities.
The consultant supported the business to develop an exciting digital marketing strategy, designed to elevate awareness of the brand and establish and promote the business via strong social media protocols and content.
Through the improvements that have been made, the business has gained two new key customers. The Pandemic had set the business back by 18 months and initially, recruitment was put on hold. But now they have taken on an Apprentice Administrator and 5 Production Staff to deal with the current uplift.
Jeeva Sanmugam commented on their support from MGP, “Speak with the advisors; they are a great sounding board. They have a lot of good experience and resources to give objective advice. The part funding available will help you invest in the areas of your business that supports growth and stay competitive.”
“As most of our customers are in the hospitality sector, we have had a challenging 18 months. Having said that, we are now back in full operation and the business is showing signs of growth with new product innovations and gaining new customers. Our expertise is in developing quality vegan and gluten free savoury and dessert dishes. There is a huge demand within this growing sector.”
Recently, the business has developed a small range of desserts for a well-known online food company. The desserts, some of which are vegan have been developed without any refined sugar. They have also invested in new refrigeration equipment to enable them to develop products that require very low temperatures.
When asked how the support from MGP has helped the business, Jeeva responded, “It has helped our business to immediately invest in digital marketing, which is critical for our businesses to stay competitive. The next 3 years we plan to grow the business, increase sales by 65% by working with a new customer base, and increase the workforce by 25%.”
Future plans for the business are to get the business back to pre-COVID performance and start to build and maximise the opportunities available via online sales and retail.
More details on Classic Cuisine Limited will be available at www.classiccuisine.co.uk