Behind the scenes of PIG HQ June 18, 2019 11:32

Fancy a glimpse behind the porky curtain and see what Snaffling Pig HQ really looks like? No? Then this page probably isn't for you then. But for those who want to seeing where the piggin' magic happens read on you beautiful thing. #nofilter. 

PIG HQ 

We moved to our current home back in 2016 after we appeared on Dragons' Den. Found ourselves an old pig farm with a newly converted outbuilding in Yattendon, Berkshire. At some point we may get round to putting some signage on the front, but at the moment we'd rather spend every penny we have on making an awesome product, than telling the postie where we are.

 

 

 

 

Inside our old piggery is HQ. Small team of just 6 based around 5 desks. Yep maths doesn't work there, but we spend so much time on the road meeting customers are we rarely all in. Fridays are for country music. Dog bed in the corner and a fridge stacked full of beer, bacon and gammon. We've got Becca in accounts, Haley & Charlie in customer service and Andrea on trade sales. Udhi and I just float around getting involved in whatever is needed.  

Next to HQ is our food clean room which houses BIG SUE. Our automated jar filling machine, capable of filling 2,500 jars a day. The pork is flavoured at our cooking site in Wigan and then shipped here daily for Stephen and Julie to fill into our 90g and 275g jars. Sticklers for precision and rules, they make us look and taste great. Empty jars move along the conveyor and sit on a vibrating platform where they are filled and the vibrations ensure every gap is filled with porky nuggets. They then move along the conveyor to be labelled before entering a heat sealer which applies a plastic sleeve to the top to seal the jar.  

 

 

PIG WAREHOUSE 

 

  

 

Directly next door to our HQ is our warehouse. Headed up by Joey, this 5,000 sq foot unit is home to every line we sell and is where John and Joey lift and shift thousands of orders each week, packing them for pubs, wholesalers and directly to our consumers. You will literally never meet more passionate people than these two. 

We have a porklift and Christian Bale the baler. 

Half the warehouse is ours and the other half is Boomf. Totally seperate company to us but helps to share the overheads. 

 


   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With 184 different product lines we use a rather dull but important warehouse management system that keeps a tab on locations and orders, ensuring we can be as efficient as possible. Big pallet orders will go from our cooking site directly to the customer. All other orders will be dispatched from this room, except advent calendars which are packed off site and shipped. We end up making over 400 pallets of advents, and this room can only hold 180 pallet bays. Freshly made jars from BIG SUE will head here to be packed for any new orders.

Picking sheets are printed off, which tell the team what item to pick, how many and where abouts in the warehouse they are. Each product has its own home (stock location) and this prevents the team from sending the wrong item. Particularly useful when we have to employ temporary staff at busy periods of the year. The orders are picked and placed into a tray and they wizz down this very snazzy conveyor to the packing tables, where they are lovingly packed before wizzing down another conveyor to receive their shipping label and come to rest on a pallet ready for collection by the courier.

Just to the side of the warehouse was a rather dull looking space, so we did what any socially acceptable brand should do and built a pub. Granted its only got 4 seats but it's all ours and makes a much better meeting space. 

So that's us. It won't win awards for the wackiest office, but it's where we call home. 

 

If you'd like to come see us in person, we'd love to show you around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nick Coleman

Founder & CEO