Pieminister
Pieminister's tasty wares
Bristol-based company Pieminister was set up in 2003, and quickly established a reputation for producing high quality, hand made gourmet pies for which they have already received numerous awards. Pieminister pies now feature on the menus of gastronome pubs and restaurants across the country, and have even been eaten by the Queen!
In order to keep up with the growing demand brought on by their ever-increasing popularity, Pieminister soon realised that they had to find a way of substantially increasing their manufacturing output. However, this presented the young business with some difficulty as they were lacking appropriate technology and management systems required to rapidly expand production.
To overcome this hurdle, Pieminister sought advice from the experts at the University of Bristol and entered a two-year Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) with the Food Refrigeration and Processing Engineering Research Centre (FRPERC).
The Centre has significant expertise in this area, and the KTP is benefiting from FRPERC’s expert knowledge in the design and construction of prototype pilot plant, rapid cooling and controlled food storage, and the application of low cost automation and robotics to food production.
Yolanda Senso, a Food Technology graduate was recruited as the KTP Associate in October 2005. Nine months into the project, there have already been some great achievements, and all three parties involved are thrilled about progress.
Tristan Hogg, Director of Pieminister says, “Working in a Knowledge Transfer Partnership with the University of Bristol is enabling us to take the business one step further – and has already put Pieminister ahead of our competitors.”
FRPERC are excited to see their expertise make a real difference to a local start-up business. This KTP provides an opportunity to improve the Centre’s expertise in the measurement and modelling of heat and mass transfer from complex foodstuff. In addition, the KTP has already led to two undergraduate projects and is expected to generate an MSc for Yolanda and further projects and publications
