Text: Stuart Anderson

Offering an alternative to over-priced sandwiches and stodgy fast food, Morris Pasties is bringing the popular Cornish pasty to the national palette. With a fledgling national network of franchisees trading, the company brings over 30 years' experience from the original Cornish family business and a menu which has earned plaudits from BBC2, the Times (which called Morris Pasties the "number one pasty in Cornwall") and Extreme TV (which picked Morris Pasties as one of the five best things about Newquay).

Morris Pasties creates its handmade and hand-crimped pasties using a secret recipe, and with the finest ingredients including meats from the company's own butchers. Morris Pasties has found that its pasties are best cooked from frozen, so the baking process has been simplified to achieve easy, consistent results. A large factory equipped with modern production facilities produces the products for the franchisee network, which can rely on a supply of the highest quality products anywhere in the country.

A REAL FAMILY BUSINESS

Banbury franchisees Malcolm and Pat Dibb opened their store in December 2006, and have made a big splash in their local area. "We arranged advertising in the local papers when we launched, and we've since had a number of free adverts in papers and on the local radio by offering interviews and tasting opportunities to the media," says Malcolm. "The rest we leave to the quality of the Morris Pasties products, which are brilliant. There's a national pasty chain round the corner from our store and customers overwhelmingly prefer our pasties, which are fuller in content and use a short crust pastry, which is less greasy than the common flaky pastry used by our competitors.

"Our sausage rolls are also a big hit, especially when we go out to the industrial units. Our customers there say they're the best they've ever tasted! They are literally packed with proper butcher's sausage meat from the Morris butchers. In addition, we are expanding our Cornish image by supplying other Cornish products with Morris Pasties' blessing, including handmade chocolates, jams and biscuits."

It is this quality of product that drew the Dibbs to Morris Pasties from the start, with Pat first trying a Morris Pasties pasty at the Milton Keynes branch. "Pat is Cornish and she was amazed at how good it was - in fact it just as good as the pasties her mother makes!" says Malcolm. "We were looking for a business to set up that our son Andrew could eventually takeover, and when we saw Morris Pasties in The Franchise Magazine we decided to make enquiries."

After year one, with takings "close to projections", the Dibbs are looking to develop more avenues to increase growth in their business. "We are already bringing in additional sales by taking the product out to industrial estates in a van," reflects Malcolm. "We're also targeting corporate buffets by developing a range of sandwiches to complement the pasties."

With Andrew managing the Banbury shop, Malcolm and Pat are looking toward their exit strategy. "Pat and I are both 59 and we want to finish work by the time we're 65," reveals Malcolm. "Andrew is learning to run the business and as time goes by we will hire more staff to free him up and allow us to step back. It's provided us with an opportunity to build a real family business."

'A GOURMET MEAL'

With a track record of retail business ownership stretching back three decades, Dave and Lynn Jones brought a wealth of experience to their Morris Pasties franchise, which they opened in Southampton in February 2006. "We'd previously owned a post office, a newsagents and a convenience store, but had always had a hankering to go in the food direction," reveals Dave. "Lynn bought a copy of The Franchise Magazine and Morris Pasties' advert caught our imagination. We visited a number of franchises but you get an inner sense what suits you and Cornish pasties are growing in popularity. We saw this franchise as a chance to get in on the ground floor of something that could be quite big."

The first challenge for the couple was to find the right premises, which they achieved with the assistance of Morris Pasties although it eventually required relocating from Portsmouth to Southampton. "The support from Morris Pasties is good," says Dave. "All the logistics are in place, such as uniforms, customer service practices, baking procedures...there is a small team at head office which is amenable and enthusiastic. It's not like a big corporation with hundreds of people - you get to know everybody and it's nice to be able to pick up the phone at any time and speak to the top guy."

With a location in the food terrace of a shopping mall, the store is up against some stiff competition including Pizza Hut, McDonald's, KFC and Costa Coffee. "It's hard work because you have to establish your brand, but word of mouth is spreading and takings are going up all the time," reports Dave. "It helps that the product is really outstanding. We get a lot of good feedback, including people from Cornwall who love the pasties. It's a gourmet meal compared to the shop-bought pasties."