David Milner takes on CEO role at St Pierre Groupe
David Milner (pictured) has been appointed CEO of St Pierre Groupe, the UK’s fastest growing branded bakery business, three years after joining the board. David Milner, who was responsible for driving international growth at Tyrells and progressing the Lily’s Kitchen pet food brand, takes on the CEO role to drive St Pierre Groupe’s next stage of growth.
St Pierre Groupe boasts a retail value of a quarter of a billion dollars, after substantial growth of its branded propositions. The business portfolio includes St Pierre – America’s number one brioche brand, Baker Street – the extended life bakery brand and Paul Hollywood – the category leader in part-baked bread.
As non-executive Chairman at St Pierre Groupe, Milner spent the past three years in a strategic role but will now implement growth plans internationally as CEO, alongside the senior leadership team. The appointment is part of a long-term strategy to bolster the board of directors with unrivalled experience in UK and US markets. Since 2018, St Pierre Groupe has grown its turnover by 68 per cent.
In 2019, the company was awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade and has appeared in The Sunday Times International Track 200 for five consecutive years. Most recently, it won Exporter of the Year at The Grocer Gold Awards 2020 and in 2021, it debuted at #42 in The Sunday Times BDO Profit Track 100.
David Milner, CEO of St Pierre Groupe, comments: “St Pierre Groupe is a phenomenal business, doing bakery differently with its three brands. Since joining the business in 2018, I’ve worked with the team to achieve incredible growth. Yet there is still huge potential – it is innovative, superior quality and branded. The workforce has increased threefold in 18 months and I’m excited to guide the team to even greater success.”
Paul Baker, founder of St Pierre Groupe, adds: “David has been instrumental in our remarkable success in the past three years and appointing him as CEO was a natural next step to prepare us to meet ambitious growth plans.”
As St Pierre Groupe moves into its next phase of development, David Milner will accelerate the international growth, nurturing relationships in the USA and exploring new opportunities to expand the geographic footprint of the business’ brands.
Milner continues: “It’s an incredibly exciting time for the company. A great brand starts with a quality product and St Pierre Groupe has quality products in abundance.
“Across the globe, consumers are shifting to more premium products – Covid simply accelerated the shift, encouraging us to innovate for and elevate everyday meals with our product ranges. As a business we are renowned for working with retailers to deliver exceptional category growth – and we are constantly reviewing the market, consumer habits and our products to ensure this continues.”
David Milner’s appointment as CEO comes with a plan to double the value of the business in the next five years.
