Pie Face has signed a deal with convenience store chain in SA

Australian pie restaurant group Pie Face Pty Ltd (Pie Face) has signed an agreement to retail a range of hot pastry products in approximately 80 of the On the Run (OTR) convenience stores in the South Australian market.

Initially, OTR will carry a “core range” of nine products including meat pies, sausage rolls and some new products that Pie Face said were specifically developed for the OTR customer. The two year deal is expected to result in initial unit volumes exceeding 1 million units per annum, but may be expanded into additional lines.

The deal does not preclude Pie Face from franchising or operating its core retail stores in Adelaide.

Pie Face said it had recently commissioned a new 3,000 square metre HCAPP-accredited Central Kitchen Facility (CKF) in Rosehill, Sydney, which has “ample capacity to handle such business”.

“Pie Face is very pleased to have an agreement with leading convenience operator, On the Run, that introduces our products to South Australian consumers,” said Andrew Lyme, Commercial Manager at Pie Face. “The Company has been focussed on the supply chain side of business in an effort to increase production efficiencies and allow the business to become a lower cost, premium bakery supplier to our national retailer network,” he said.

The Company said deals like the OTR deal should enable Pie Face to reach those goals sooner.

“We are hopeful of announcing similar types of win/win arrangements during 2014,” Mr Lyme said.

Pie Face launched in Sydney in 2003 and now has 87 stores across Australia, the US and New Zealand, with plans for entry into the Middle East and additional international markets in the next 12 to 24 months. Australian Food News reported in October 2013 that Pie Face had announced a deal with the hospitality division of Dubai-based retail and hospitality conglomerate Landmark Group. The deal will see Foodmark, a division of Landmark Hospitality, open a minimum of 100 Pie Face stores in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar over the next ten years. In June 2013, Australian Food News reported that Pie Face had branched out into India.