SCOTTISH pizza oven firm Ooni has reported a 264% increase in revenue, to £208m, as it reveals its highest turnover to date.
The firm, which claims to be the world’s number one pizza oven company, said in financial highlights to December 31, 2021 that turnover was up from £57.2m in 2020 and that it has also boosted staffing by 500%.
The firm said the product has become a “global sensation”, selling its range of pizza ovens and accessories in over 90 countries worldwide.
It has continued to "redefine the outdoor cookware category" with new accessory and oven launches, including the award-winning Ooni Karu 16 multi-fuel pizza oven last year – which it says is the only domestic pizza oven certified by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN) - the Italian industry body designed to protect the true Napoletana pizza worldwide.
Ooni said that as the appetite for making pizza continues to grow, it is set to continue expanding its range of products, with the first half of 2022 already seeing the launch of Ooni’s first ever range of groceries, "bringing together the best authentic pizza ingredient brands in one place and providing consumers with a one-stop shop for all their pizza-making needs".
Known for bringing portable pizza ovens to back gardens all over the world, Ooni was founded by husband-and-wife team Kristian Tapaninaho and Darina Garland in 2012. The company said it leads a new category after it launched what it said is the world’s first portable pizza oven with the goal being to help people “make truly great pizza at home”.
Darina Garland, co-founder and co-chief executive, said: “The last year has seen explosive growth as we’ve connected with more and more people around the world who can now experience the joy of making amazing pizza at home.
“Our growth has enabled us to expand the talented Ooni team, with employee numbers increasing over 500% since January 2020. Today we have 313 people in our company.
“We’re very excited to have a super engaged team who always give world-class scores in terms of employee happiness. This, our culture and Ooni values is a huge focus for us.
"At Ooni, we’re passionate about making a difference, not only to families and people around the world who get to enjoy making pizza together, but by being a business with a strong sense of social purpose, donating 1% of annual global turnover to social and environmental causes.”
Ooni said it is committed to donating 1% of global revenues to charitable causes and in 2021, it planted over 800,000 trees with the Eden Reforestation Projects in Madagascar.
Ooni’s innovative pizza ovens, accessories and groceries are sold through its website but the company also has trusted retail partnerships with brands such as John Lewis & Partners and Lakeland in the UK and Williams Sonoma and Bloomingdale’s in the US, the US being Ooni’s biggest customer base.
The business is headquartered in West Lothian, and now has offices in Austin, Texas, Shanghai, China and Bonn, Germany.
Historic Scottish housebuilding business sold for £50m
THE historic Scottish housebuilding business of Mactaggart & Mickel Group has been acquired by peer Springfield Properties in a deal worth nearly £50 million.
In a transaction that marks the end of an era for the near 100-year-old MacMic, Highlands-based Springfield will pay an initial £10.5m on completion of the acquisition. A deferred cash consideration of £35.8m to be paid proportionally as homes are sold over the next five years.
Distillery owners win approval to refurbish historic mill
A SCOTTISH distiller has been granted planning permission to refurbish a 200-year-old mill.
Dunnet Bay Distillers said the site at Castletown, near the distillery's Caithness headquarters, will see a restoration and fit-out costing up to £4 million.
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