Birds Bakery boss ‘happy’ with much-maligned pork pie

The managing director of a bakery chain has insisted he is happy with their pork pies despite hundreds of fans taking to social media to say the bakery item had dipped in quality.

Pie fan Mike Dowd posted on the Pork Pie Appreciation Society Facebook page to say his pie from the Chaddesden branch of Birds Bakery was “nowhere near as good as they used to be” – prompting more than 400 comments.

Boss Jamie Bird said the firm had carried out quality checks after reading hundreds of negative comments online and was “happy with the product quality”.

“We will always review our processes to make sure they match the standards that we expect and that’s what we’ve done,” he added.

Bird, who is the fourth generation of the family to run the company, said: “When we get complaints on any product, we take them seriously and we always investigate.

“Every week, every day, there are taste panels done before products are dispatched to make sure we are happy with the quality of the products that are going out.”

He insisted the recipe and suppliers for the pie had not been changed.

Many of those who criticised the product online also complained about its £5.75 price tag, but Bird said customers were still getting value for money.

“We are there to try and offer the highest quality product at the best possible price,” he said.

Bird said the bakery, which has 62 shops, faced challenges including dealing with inflation while investing in refurbishments and improvements.

He said despite this, the firm has worked to “protect the magic” of its legacy products such as the pork pie, sausage cob and caramel doughnut.

Three online complainants claimed the deterioration in standards was down to an influx of agency staff but Adam Thompson, head of bakery operations, said 99% of the 200 bakery staff were full-time employees.

The bakery said it had now advertised for a volunteer product taste tester to assist them with their feedback process.

In response, Dowd – who originally posted on social media about the pies – said: “I don’t dispute the fact they haven’t changed the recipe since 1919, but the ingredients must have changed.”

“They were pretty tasteless. Hundreds of people seemed to agree with me.”