The Spice Tailor sold to Premier Foods for £43.8 million

Image by Nish Kitchen

Founded by an Indian-origin couple, The Spice Tailor, a meal kits company has been acquired by Premier Foods for £43.8 million.

The company’s founders Anjum Anand and her husband Adarsh Sethia owned 9.5 stake each with the majority stake being held by a trust based in Jersey.

Anand, who is a food writer and presenter, has written eight Indian cookbooks and also featured in a cooking series which aired on BBC Two. Her business has clocked a compounded annual growth of more than 20 per cent over the last four years.

With the UK being its main market which accounts for 58 per cent of its sales, the brand is also taking off in Australia which accounts to about 35 per cent of its revenues.

The purpose behind launching the business was to provide authentic homemade Indian food to its customers as Anand felt that the products being sold in supermarkets did not represent the flavours she grew up with.

Both Anand and Sethia wanted to create a better home-cooking experience by looking beyond takeaways and thick sauces.

“We see Premier with their track record of brand investment and strong commercial relationships, as the perfect fit for The Spice Tailor, driving it onto the next stage of its evolution,” they said.

Premier Foods CEO Alex Whitehouse expressed that the acquisition was well-aligned to the company’s growth strategy with many other companies such as Ambrosia, Batchelor’s, Bisto, Mr Kipling and Oxo falling under its umbrella. Whitehouse added, “This acquisition represents a highly complementary geographical fit, and we see significant potential to expand The Spice Tailor’s distribution in all our target markets. We see this as another important milestone for us following the Group’s strong performance over recent years and The Spice Tailor is an important addition to accelerate our future growth plans.”