Swine Dining

Vegetarians, look away now. The Snaffling Pig Co. has a very clear mission – to take the pork scratching to a place it’s never been before. “We believe that glorious things happen when you embrace your carnivorous side,” announces the company’s smart-looking website. By embracing their carnivorous sides, Nick Coleman (CH Public Policy and Management/Business Administration) and Andy Allen (BSc Industrial Product Design) have not only given the oldfashioned Black Country snack a new lease of life but have created a unique business that looks set to expand into new areas.

The initial aim, they insist, was not to make the pork scratching posh but to explore some of its natural potential. “The pork scratching is a much more versatile product than people give it credit for,” explains Andy (pictured, right). “It’s always been the same old thing – a hard product in a plastic bag but we have tried to move it to different places.”

Admittedly, some of those places have been hipster bars selling craft beers, but the product is also available online and even has its own gift range. As a result, The Snaffling Pig Co. has quickly moved from a side-project to the pair’s main concern. But how did the friends, who graduated together in 2004, get the idea in the first place? Says Nick:

“I started another business six years ago called Medical Supermarket which sells everything a GP surgery would ever need to buy. Two years ago my business partner, Udhi, and I set ourselves a challenge to each take £500 and start a new business, with the first one to reach a £1m turnover winning a slap-up dinner. I had the idea, the infrastructure and the experience, I just didn't have the right branding, which is where Andy came in. His knowledge and experience was exactly what I needed so I suggested he came on-board. Fast forward two years and Andy, Udhi and I have eight staff and over 600 customers and I’m only a few months away from that dinner!”

“I must admit,” adds Andy, “when he first called me, I was in the middle of a client meeting. My reaction was: ‘Right… really?!’ After a few months Nick had got a manufacturer so I said I’d have a proper look at the branding side and the marketing opportunity. Pork scratchings are something I love; I’ve got abiding memories as a kid of going down to the old [Birmingham] Bull Ring and getting a bag of scratchings from the market. It was a passion project and an opportunity for me to write copy and get into the creative direction side of things.”

The product is made in Walsall (the “spiritual home of the pork scratching” insists Andy) by a family who have made scratchings out of the back of their butchers’ shop in the traditional way for generations. It’s a simple foodstuff, so the quality of the ingredients are paramount. But what really pushed the product into new realms was the use of flavours and novel formats. Instead of bags, these little piggies went to market in Kilner jars – a decision that was taken largely because foil was too expensive for the new business. The jars have had the additional advantage of appealing to high-end pubs and bars and this has, in turn, helped The Snaffling Pig Co. to reposition the snack as a premium product (the jars are also reusable). Apart from selling to pubs, they also supply the likes of Selfridges and Fenwick, and now that the business has grown they can also afford to offer foil packs.

Nick Coleman. Photograph: Helen Atkinson / Yellow Snapper

But perhaps the greatest innovation has been in the range of flavours. “When we decided to do flavours we agreed we needed something big and bold,” says Andy. “Pork snacks are not subtle. So we’ve done some classic things – salt and vinegar, which no one had ever done before, and habanero chilli and barbecue. We do something close to a regular flavour, which we call perfectly salted, and we also do black pepper and sea salt, which is a bit different and a good way of stepping into new things. After that we started to go a bit crazy. We did sweet chilli; fennel; and we’ve done the first ever sweet version – a maple.”

Wait, a sweet pork scratching?

“It’s sweet but still salty so it will work with a pint,” says Andy reassuringly. “And then we did a really crazy thing; we did a super-spicy job which we call the Pig of Doom. That’s made with ghost chilli – one of the hottest chillis in the world. Pubs tend to have it on the bar as a bit of a challenge. It taps into that Man v. Food thing.”

Andy Allen. Photograph: Helen Atkinson / Yellow Snapper

The Pig of Doom – which started out as a bit of theatre for potential clients during sampling – proved so popular that The Snaffling Pig Co. added it to their repertoire and it has since inspired a hot sauce. This, says Andy, is currently being sold as part of a gift bundle but will soon be rolled out as a separate product. “It’s ridiculously hot,” he chuckles, “When we season the scratchings, the staff have to wear masks and gloves.”

The macho approach has not done them any harm. They were delighted, for example, to pair with www.notonthehighstreet.com who saw their pork scratchings as a potential Fathers’ Day present. Last year they were the website’s fastest-growing food-and-drink partner. “We would never position pork scratchings as a male-specific gift,” Andy says firmly, “but let’s be honest, it does solve a few problems. We’d like to think we offer a more exciting alternative to socks.”

The success of the venture has taken them both by surprise. Andy says that, although he didn’t follow the trajectory of his degree and go into product design, he learnt a lot at Aston. His experience with the Guild of Students was hugely influential and helped him to form important friendships, not least with Nick, who was a fellow Sabbatical Officer. Nick also credits his involvement with the Guild as a significant period of his life, helping him to take the lessons learnt on his degree and apply them to a real business.

“That role [Guild Vice-President] was a safe environment for me to push the boundaries of my ability,” Nick explains. “I made a lot of mistakes but I learnt quickly. I was proud to be instrumental in helping the Guild to receive a large donation to redevelop the third floor. I tried to start a number of businesses at university, all of which failed as quickly as they started, but that’s part of the experience. I remember going from flat to flat selling orange juice but my costs were wrong and I was selling them cheaper than it cost me to make! Aston’s campus and passion for business is a great environment for budding entrepreneurs to give something a punt.”

When it comes to pub snacks, the gamble has paid off. Whether the pair have turned the humble scratching posh is a matter for debate and bad jokes (have they made a silk purse out of a sow’s ear?) But with plans to expand the brand, The Snaffling Pig Co. clearly has a lot of scope… and Nick will doubtless enjoy his dinner.