IT’S British Pie Week and award winning Brighton pie bakery Piglets Pantry is reflecting on its amazing success story.

The bakery was founded by Joanna Hunter after she left the corporate world in 2011, and has gone from strength to strength over the last eight years.

The bakery now sells up to 120,000 products per month, and Jo and her team now count the Chelsea Flower Show, Twickenham, Ascot, Chelsea FC and Leicester City FC amongst their clients.

Piglets Pantry started out by chance, after Jo accompanied her two sons to Brighton and Hove Albion FC’s stadium when it was under construction in 2011, and ended up designing the pies for the club after a brief chat with one of the directors.

Having trained as a patisserie chef, Jo created some tasting recipes and won the contract beating 100 other pie companies, making 2,500 per day.

The pies have since won 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in the Football Category at The British Pie Awards.

As demand grew, Jo realised she needed to take the business to the next level by starting an online project, hiring a production company and equipment, and Jo’s financial partner suggested Esme Loans to secure the funding to go to the next level.

Having the loan has allowed Jo to take a step out of the kitchen and focus on growing the business and acquiring new customers, as production in the kitchen is at an all time high.

Jo said: “I do wonder sometimes what would have happened if we hadn’t visited the stadium on that day. Looking back it was a lot to do, and I don’t know how we managed it, but we have so many fond memories of how far we have come in eight years, and I’m looking forward to many more.’