Could United Petroleum be looking to buy Mrs Mac’s Pies?
Some believe that the fuel retailer is the most logical contender for the business after the roaring success it had with its Pie Face acquisition in 2017.
Its Pie Face stores are co-located with its service stations, and its meat pies are a particular winner within the tradie community, typically bought together with iced coffee.
United Petroleum, based in Victoria and founded and run by Avi Silver and Eddie Hirsch, purchased Pie Face out of receivership.
The popular brand is now located in more than 250 of its Australian fuel retail outlets.
Mrs Mac’s Pies is up for sale through KPMG. While it is only a small business and said to be in a break-even position at best, experts believe a purchase would make sense for United Petroleum.
The family owned Mrs Mac’s is most dominant in the West Australian market and rolling out the pies in West Australian outlets is thought to be the right strategy in United Petroleum’s play book.
United Petroleum is an independent, Australian-owned petrol and convenience network with a number of stores franchised. It earlier bought Pie Face’s intellectual property and retail network.
Pie Face was founded in 2003 by former Wall Street banker Wayne Homschek and his fashion designer wife, Betty Fong.
It made losses between 2009 and 2014, and owed more than $4m to employees and the Australian Taxation Office after an aggressive store rollout. A number of underperforming stores caused it to buckle under a loan to financier Macquarie.
Extracted from The Australian