When Richard Fox made the decision to go vegan, he had no idea it would lead to him selling meat-free products around the globe.
The story of plant-based brand Cock & Bull began in Fox’s kitchen during the Covid pandemic. A classically trained chef, he has written books including The Food and Beer Cookbook, made many TV appearances, and presented at events including the Farm Shop & Deli Show.
Lockdowns meant he had no work and plenty of time. Having been vegan for about seven years, Fox set about making himself a plant-based pork pie. It took six months to develop the pastry, and many more to develop the filling. When he had a pie he was happy with, he sent samples to friend and fellow foodie Simon Hurley.
Hurley will be a familiar face to regular Farm Shop & Deli Shows visitors, having often appeared on the show’s popular Dragons’ Pantry panels and judged the Farm Shop & Deli Retailer Awards. He and Fox have known each other for a quarter of a century, since Hurley set up Weetons Food Hall in Harrogate.
“Richard used to come in while writing a cookery book and sit at the end of the coffee bar drinking espresso, and we became friends,” Hurley explains.
Impressed with the quality of the pastry and the filling, Hurley costed out the product, and the pair decided the numbers worked.
After branding the pie Jampa’s, the name of Fox’s Tibetan Terrier dog, their next step was taking a stand at the Plant Based World Expo, London. The Porky Pie won best new product at the show’s Taming the Dragons event, and interest in the brand blossomed. Fox and Hurley found a production partner and were soon supplying retailers including the Chatsworth and Low Sizergh Barn farm shops, as well as Comida, a Spanish restaurant in Kendal.
Just a few years on, the range has grown beyond the original Porky Pie to include Chorizo Porky Pie, Saus-Ish Roll, empanadas and more. It has also been rebranded as Cock & Bull following research by marketing agency Big Fish – “an amazing experience if not a little scary”, says Hurley.
Today, Fox is MD of the business while Hurley heads NPD & operations. Also on board as financial director is Kevin Athersuch, who was FD at Olives Et Al when Hurley ran that business.
Distribution has soared both in the UK and overseas. Cock & Bull now works with manufacturing partners Pars in Scotland and Tartistes in Canada.
Plus, working with Scottish manufacturer Grants, Cock & Bull has launched canned Bolognese and Chilli Non-Carne for foodservice and will soon be rolling them into retail.
Outsourcing production alongside functions such as market research, marketing and sales enables the brand to increase production as required. Distributors now include Cotswold Fayre, Vegetarian Express and Delifresh, while products are supplied directly to retailers in the US and Canada via Tartistes.
“We are in more and more farmshops, delis and independent retailers and are working with more distributors into both hospitality and retail,” says Hurley. “We have had confirmation that we are launching with Booths in Veganuary 2026, which is very exciting.”
Cock & Bull is in talks with the largest distributor in Canada and the US, he adds, and is having conversation across Europe and the Middle East.
That comes following a string of awards recognising the quality of the brand’s range, including a gold or silver award for every Cock & Bull product entered in the Farm Shop & Deli Product Awards over the years.
“Winning is peer recognition and confirmation you are doing it well,” says Hurley. “With the Farm Shop & Deli Product Awards focusing on the value chain, branding, taste, and texture it is also confirming an industry standard for buyers to work with that is trusted and certainly gets you through the first few gates to get listings.”
Such recognition also gives producers confidence that others like what they are doing, he adds. “We all love our own products and can sometimes become blinded by the closeness. Having expert judges dig into your product and make comments can help you develop and evolve your range.”
Cock & Bull will shortly be launching a range of ready meals in retail and foodservice, and has begun collaborating with the University of Nottingham through a grant from the Innovate UK initiative. “We are working on creating even more nutritionally dense foods to help nourish future generations while showing an alternative lifestyle that is better for people and the planet,” Hurley explains.
The business is also working on securing B Corp status and is continuing to review its production to remove process steps – “with a drive to underprocess not overprocess ingredients”. It is also constantly reviewing ingredients to try to reduce its carbon footprint further.
“We will stick to our founding values of being 100% natural, avoiding all artificial preservatives, flavours and colours and we will continue to simplify manufacturing,” adds Hurley. “We want to create options for people to eat better, while focusing on amazing, tasty food.”
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