Plarre Foods

What Plarre Foods does

Plarre Foods Group (legal entity PLARRE FOODS PTY LTD) is a privately held, fourth-generation Australian family bakery business founded in 1901 in Victoria. The company operates a dual-brand portfolio anchored by Ferguson Plarre's Bakehouse, a franchise network of more than 85 retail outlets across Victoria offering award-winning savouries, pies, cakes, sweet treats, party cakes, and coffee, and Pie Society, a wholesale sub-brand selling frozen un-baked pies through Coles, Woolworths and IGA stores nationwide in Artisanal, Heritage and Meaty Vegan ranges. In 2022 the business extended into a new drive-thru retail format at South Morang, launched the Cake Shake beverage line, and completed a full brand refresh across stores, packaging and digital assets.

Revenue is generated through three streams: franchise and company-owned retail sales of bakery and coffee products in Victoria; wholesale distribution of packaged frozen pies through major Australian supermarket chains; and centralized manufacturing at the Keilor Park bakehouse, which supplies both the franchise network and the Pie Society wholesale line. Pricing is per-unit (e.g., cake shakes at A$9.90 RRP, frappes at A$7.50 RRP, smoothies at A$8.00 RRP), with a pay-as-you-go consumer billing cadence. The Keilor Park manufacturing facility has been recognized for sustainability through the 2009 Gold Banksia Award, energy recovery systems, rainwater harvesting, solar hot water and integrated SCADA energy monitoring.

The company is led by Steve Plarre (Director & CEO since July 2012, fourth-generation) and Mike Plarre (Director & General Manager Manufacturing, fourth-generation baker who designed the sustainable facility), supported by a CFO (Max Soteris, ex-KPMG and Swisse Wellness), Chief People Officer (Simon Campbell, ex-Goodman Fielder and Compass Group), Head of Marketing (Chris Cotton, ex-SumoSalad) and Non-Executive Director David Bayes (former CEO of Bakers Delight, former VP of McDonald's Australia). The business has been bootstrapped through four generations with no disclosed external institutional investors.

Name

Plarre Foods

Legal name

PLARRE FOODS PTY LTD

Website

https://plarrefoods.com.au

Company type

Private

Founded year

1901

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Plarre Foods Group is a fourth-generation Australian family bakery founded in 1901, operating Ferguson Plarre's Bakehouse, a franchise network of 85+ outlets across Victoria, and Pie Society, a wholesale frozen pie brand distributed nationally through Coles, Woolworths and IGA.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Commercial Bakery

NAICS

Bread and Bakery Product Manufacturing (31181), Commercial Bakeries (311812), Baked Goods Retailers (445291)

SIC

Bakery Products (2050)

akta.pro primary industry

Retail Bakeries (Bread & Daily Bakery) (THAFAFAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Frozen & Par-Baked Bakery Production (THAFAFAK), Bakery & Desserts Distribution (CRAOABAE), Bread & Pastry Specialty Stores (CRAHAGAC)

Keywords

• Commercial bakery
• Bakery franchise
• Frozen pies
• Retail baking
• Pie manufacturing

Headquarters

HQ city

Keilor

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Franchise Retail Sales: Franchise bakehouse stores selling directly to consumers. Over 85 retail outlets across Victoria including both franchisee-owned and company-owned stores.
2. Wholesale Distribution: Pie Society frozen pies distributed through Coles, Woolworths, IGA and independent retailers nationwide.
3. Manufacturing Operations: Central manufacturing bakehouse producing products for franchise network and Pie Society brand. Includes award-winning sustainable bakery operations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Plarre Foods Group manufactures and sells fresh and frozen baked goods through two principal channels. Ferguson Plarre's Bakehouse is a franchise retail network of more than 85 bakery-café outlets across Victoria serving award-winning pies, savouries, sweet treats, party cakes and barista coffee. Pie Society is a wholesale frozen pie sub-brand (Artisanal, Heritage and Meaty Vegan ranges) distributed through Coles, Woolworths, IGA and independent grocers nationwide, produced via proprietary unbaked frozen-pie technology at the group's central Keilor Park manufacturing bakery.

Product overview

Plarre Foods Group operates a dual-brand portfolio consisting of Ferguson Plarre's Bakehouse (a bakery cafe franchise with over 85 retail outlets across Victoria offering savouries, coffee, cakes, and party products) and Pie Society (a frozen pie sub-brand sold through major Australian supermarkets). The company also launched a new Drive-Thru store format and introduced Cake Shake beverages. The business operates a franchise model for its bakehouses and sells packaged products through retail channels.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Ferguson Plarre's Bakehouse: 4th generation, century old family bakery serving award-winning savouries, coffee, sweet treats and party cakes. Operates over 85 retail outlets across Victoria.
• Pie Society

Products and services

• Ferguson Plarre's Bakehouse

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 130,000 customers served annually at single kiosk location
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• GreenfleetcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2007Environmental partnership established in 2007 for carbon offset reforestation. Planted over 40,000 trees across native biodiverse forests including Wurneet Laang Laang, Gendalough, Battery Creek, and Watson's Creek sites in Victoria. Offset 11,054 tonnes of carbon emissions to date. Partnership includes tree planting visits and ongoing environmental impact reporting.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Pie Face: Australian pie-focused cafe chain with franchise outlets. Directly competes with Ferguson Plarre and Pie Society on pies, savouries and convenience bakery offerings.
• Brumby's Bakeries: Australian specialty bread and bakery franchise chain. Competes with Ferguson Plarre in retail franchise bakeries, with comparable product mix focused on fresh bread, savouries and sweet baked goods.
• Bakers Delight: Australia's largest specialty bakery franchise with hundreds of stores across ANZ. Directly competes with Ferguson Plarre's Bakehouse in the bakery-cafe and franchise model, serving similar customers with similar baked goods; Plarre's own NED David Bayes was former CEO of Bakers Delight.
• Donut King: Australian franchise chain selling sweet baked goods, coffee and snacks. Comparable franchise model and impulse-bakery GTM to Ferguson Plarre's drive-thru and bakehouse formats.
• Michel's Patisserie: Australian franchise network specialising in cakes, pastries, pies and coffee under a similar bakery-cafe model. Overlaps with Ferguson Plarre on savouries, sweet treats and party cakes through franchise distribution.

Others

• Boost Juice: Iconic Australian franchise beverage brand. Comparable Australian franchise expansion playbook, marketing community, and franchisor-franchisee infrastructure relevant to Ferguson Plarre's store network growth.

Emerging players

• Greggs: UK-based bakery-on-the-go chain with savouries, sandwiches and baked goods in convenience/drive-thru formats. Comparable convenience bakery thesis to the Ferguson Plarre Drive-Thru at South Morang.

Broad incumbents

• Patties Foods: Australia's leading frozen bakery manufacturer (Four'N Twenty, Herbert Adams, Nanna's). Direct category competitor in supermarket freezers to Pie Society's frozen unbaked pies.
• Tip Top Bakeries: Australia's largest commercial bread and bakery manufacturer (part of George Weston Foods). Competes broadly with Plarre's central manufacturing and wholesale distribution, but at far greater scale and across packaged grocery rather than bakehouse retail.

Regional players

• Gloria Jean's Coffees: Major Australian coffee and light bakery franchise. Competes with Ferguson Plarre on coffee-led bakery cafe occasions and franchise expansion channels across similar suburbs in Australia.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Plarre Foods