Poppies

Poppies is a UK-based manufacturer of napkins and tableware focused on sustainable dining solutions for catering, hospitality, and retail customers in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Alton, it was acquired by Sweden's Duni Group in 2025.

Company typePrivate
Founded2002
HeadquartersAlton, United Kingdom
Headcount101–250
GTM typeB2B
OfferingHardware or Manufacturing

What Poppies does

Poppies (legal entity: Poppies Europe Ltd) is a UK-based manufacturer of napkins and tableware serving catering and retail customers in the United Kingdom and Ireland, with a stated focus on sustainable dining solutions. Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Alton, the company employs between 101 and 250 people and operates within the commercial tableware segment of the hospitality supply chain, addressing the functional needs of restaurants, hotels, catering operators, and broader hospitality businesses for tabletop products.

Poppies' product portfolio centers on napkins, table covers, and related tabletop items, with sustainability as a stated differentiator and a "Made in Britain" manufacturing positioning. The company was acquired by Sweden-based Duni Group for approximately SEK 670 million in an agreement signed in December 2024, with completion occurring in the first half of 2025. Post-acquisition, Poppies operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Duni Group and its product lines have been integrated into the Duni UK storefront (uk.duni.com), alongside broader Duni categories including takeaway containers, cutlery, cups, candles, LED lighting, and reusable products.

The business model is a B2B distribution and manufacturing play targeting hospitality end-customers and wholesalers rather than direct consumer sales. Specific pricing mechanics, customer-level revenue concentration, and standalone financial performance are not publicly disclosed, making revenue estimation dependent on acquisition valuation triangulation rather than reported figures. No technology platform, software product, or AI-driven capability is associated with the offering, reinforcing that competitive positioning rests on physical product attributes, sustainability credentials, and now Duni Group's broader European distribution reach.

Poppies firmographics

Firmographics

Name: Poppies
Legal name: Poppies Europe Ltd
Website: https://poppieseurope.com
Company type: Private
Founded year: 2002
Operating status: Acquired
Headcount range: 101–250 employees
Short description: Poppies is a UK-based manufacturer of napkins and tableware focused on sustainable dining solutions for catering, hospitality, and retail customers in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Alton, it was acquired by Sweden's Duni Group in 2025.
Ownership category
akta.pro rank

Poppies industry classification

Industry

Product category: Commercial Tableware
NAICS: Sanitary Paper Product Manufacturing (322291)
akta.pro primary industry: Paper Napkins (CRAJAFAD)
akta.pro secondary industry: Disposable Tableware (Plates, Cups, Cutlery) (CRAJAGAG)

Keywords

Napkins and tableware
Hospitality tabletop products
Catering supplies
Food packaging solutions
Sustainable dining solutions

Where Poppies is headquartered

Location

Headquarters

HQ city: Alton
HQ country: United Kingdom
HQ region: Europe

Markets served

Poppies business model

Business model

GTM type: B2B
Offering type: Hardware or Manufacturing
Cost components: Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Poppies product offering

Product offering

Core offering

Poppies is a UK-based manufacturer of napkins and tableware for the catering and retail sectors, producing sustainable dining and tabletop solutions for hospitality businesses in the UK and Ireland. The product range includes tissue and linen-feel napkins, table covers, takeaway containers, plates, cutlery, cups and glasses, reusable products, candles, and sealable packaging.

Product overview

Poppies is a UK-based tabletop company specializing in sustainable dining solutions. The company operated as an independent provider in the commercial tableware sector before being acquired by Duni Group in December 2024 for approximately SEK 670 million. The acquisition was completed in the first half of 2025. Specific product names and details for Poppies' individual offerings are not available in the provided source material.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

Napkins A range of tissue napkins in 1-ply, 2-ply, and 3-ply constructions, plus linen-feel napkins, cocktail napkins, and cutlery-pocket variants, supplied to UK and Ireland hospitality businesses. Includes Dunilin® and Dunisilk® premium concept napkin ranges.
Table Covers Table covers and placemats for hospitality and foodservice settings, including Evolin® and Point-to-Point concept options.
Takeaway Containers Food packaging containers designed for takeaway and off-premise foodservice use, supplied to commercial hospitality operators.
Plates Plates for commercial hospitality and foodservice table settings.
Cutlery Single-use and reusable cutlery for commercial hospitality and foodservice use.
Cups and Glasses Cups and glasses for hospitality beverage service and table settings.
Reusable Products Reusable tableware and food packaging products intended for repeated-use hospitality operations.
Candles Candles, including LED candles and LED table lamps, for ambient table presentation in hospitality venues.
Duniform Sealable Packaging Duniform-branded sealable food packaging for commercial hospitality and takeaway applications.
Branded Napkin and Tableware Customisation Customisation service enabling hospitality operators to brand napkins and tableware with their own design or logo.
Virtual Showroom Online virtual showroom enabling hospitality buyers to browse and select table-setting and food packaging solutions.

Companies that use Poppies

Customer profile

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Poppies technology and API

Technology

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API: No
API docs
API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Poppies partnerships and signals

Strategic signal

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Poppies competitors and assessment

Company assessment

Direct peers

Huhtamaki: Finnish global foodservice and consumer packaging manufacturer producing paper/board tableware, cups and napkins for hospitality and quick-service restaurants across Europe. Closest comparable in scale, geography and product mix to Poppies.
Duni Group: Swedish parent of Poppies and direct manufacturer of premium napkins, table covers, candles and tabletop concepts (Dunilin, Evolin, Dunisilk). Now the combined entity for benchmarking Poppies' margin and category positioning.
Seda Group: Italy-based foodservice packaging specialist producing paper and board tableware, cups and containers for QSR and hospitality across Europe. Direct competitor in the same European napkin/tabletop category.

Broad incumbents

Pactiv Evergreen: North American leader in foodservice disposables including paper cups, containers and tableware. Comparable business model serving the same end-customers (restaurants, hospitality) but at greater scale and broader product breadth.
Novolex: US-based foodservice and specialty packaging manufacturer with a broad paper and plastic disposable portfolio. Comparable category and customer base to Poppies, though materially larger and more diversified.
Sealed Air: Global packaging company with a foodservice division supplying plates, cups and containers to hospitality and QSR. Comparable end-market exposure with much broader portfolio scope.
Berry Global: Global manufacturer of plastic and paper packaging including foodservice tableware and disposable products. Overlapping end-customers and product categories, though at a much larger scale across multiple packaging segments.
Cascades: Canadian tissue and packaging group with foodservice products including napkins and tableware. Comparable paper-based foodservice manufacturing footprint, with broader tissue and specialty products exposure.
Sofidel: Italian tissue paper manufacturer producing napkins and hygiene paper for consumer and away-from-home channels. Comparable paper-conversion manufacturing base serving similar hospitality end-customers across Europe.

Regional players

WEPA Industrie: German family-owned tissue and hygiene paper producer with away-from-home napkin and towel products for European hospitality. Comparable paper-conversion product base and European geographic focus, though not directly competing head-to-head in UK/Ireland.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Poppies financial estimates

Financial estimate

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Poppies leadership team

Management profile

Number of profiles

Poppies funding detail

Funding detail

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Poppies M&A and investment

M&A and investment

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Poppies

What does Poppies do?

Is Poppies a public or private company?

Poppies is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently acquired.

When was Poppies founded?

Poppies was founded in 2002. It employs 101 to 250 people.

Where is Poppies based?

Poppies is headquartered in Alton, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.

Who are Poppies's main competitors?

Direct peers on record are Huhtamaki, Duni Group and Seda Group. Broad incumbents are Pactiv Evergreen, Novolex, Sealed Air, Berry Global, Cascades and Sofidel. WEPA Industrie is listed as a regional player.

Does Poppies have an API?

No public API is recorded for Poppies.

What industry is Poppies in?

Poppies's product category is Commercial Tableware. Its primary akta.pro industry code is CRAJAFAD, Paper Napkins, with a secondary code of CRAJAGAG, Disposable Tableware (Plates, Cups, Cutlery). Its NAICS code is 322291.