Commercial and Operational Due Diligence for a UK Private Equity Fund on a Premium UK Bone Broth Brand

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Situation

  • Piper Private Equity engaged Food Strategy Associates across two phases to support its investment in Borough Broth, a rapidly growing premium UK bone broth and animal fats brand with leadership in a nascent category: first, Commercial Due Diligence ahead of a potential investment, and subsequently Operational Due Diligence to underpin the post-investment capacity and facility transition plan

What We Did

Phase I: Commercial Due Diligence

To support our client, we:

  • Commissioned bespoke consumer research and designed a survey for Borough Broth’s DTC customers, combining new and existing survey data to profile consumers, purchase behaviour and product usage across the brand and category
  • Analysed third-party data from Tesco Dunnhumby, Nielsen IQ, Euromonitor and Ocado to size the market and triangulate Borough Broth’s position within it
  • Liaised with the management team, including a site visit and collaborative working sessions, to articulate the brand’s differentiation, performance drivers and hurdles to growth
  • Assessed sales performance data across key retailers to benchmark Rate of Sale and promotional impact versus peers and over time
  • Evaluated the three-year growth plan, identifying upside opportunities and areas for enhancement

Phase II: Operational Due Diligence

To support our client, we:

  • Delivered a fast-turnaround operational assessment of current operations and plans for a new manufacturing facility, focused on manufacturing scalability and UK organic bone supply
  • Attended a management presentation and site visit to understand operations and capacity constraints
  • Reviewed the transition programme for feasibility, sequencing and risks
  • Built a capacity model to test whether the current facility could meet demand through the transition, and evaluated options to increase capacity in the interim
  • Produced an alternative concept design for the new facility that enabled deferral of near-term capital expenditure while still meeting capacity requirements

Results Delivered

  • Food Strategy Associates successfully completed the commercial and operational due diligence which resulted in Piper’s £7.5m investment in Borough Broth in November 2025

Yasha Estraikh, Associate Partner at Piper – “Food Strategy Associates played an important role in our decision to invest in Borough Broth. Their deep food industry experience resulted in genuinely valuable and helpful insights, allowing us to make an informed decision. The team worked efficiently and collaboratively to identify risks and opportunities, both of which were communicated to us with clarity. We would definitely use Food Strategy Associates again.”

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