Bumble Hole Foods balances expansion, supply security, and culture while strengthening its role within Hardeman
Few events reshape a business quite like an acquisition. For Bumble Hole Foods (Bumble Hole), joining Hardeman Egg Group (Hardeman) in 2025 opened doors that would have been tough to unlock alone. The deal gave the Worcestershire-based egg processor a dependable supply of raw materials, access to European expertise, and support from one of Europe’s fastest-growing egg companies. As Managing Director Simon Bennett puts it, the challenge since then has been balancing growth with the qualities that built Bumble Hole’s reputation over 60 years: quality, reliability, and a family culture.
As Hardeman expands across Europe and invests in production, processing, and farming, Simon keeps his focus on making sure Bumble Hole stays central to that story. The company still operates as a UK-led business, serving food manufacturers and foodservice operators.
For Simon, this story connects deeply with his own career. After nearly 30 years in the egg industry, mainly in processing, he joined Bumble Hole Foods in 2021. When the previous managing director retired a year later, Simon stepped in and began shaping a major chapter in the company’s history.
Founded in 1961 by David Hewston, Bumble Hole began as a poultry farm supplying local businesses across the Midlands before expanding into liquid egg processing during the 1980s. Over time, the business developed into a supplier of liquid egg, boiled eggs, and prepared egg ingredients to manufacturers across the food sector. Yet despite decades of investment, future growth increasingly depended on securing access to raw materials.
Rather than invest heavily in more farms and packing facilities, the family owners decided to partner with a company that covers the entire egg supply chain. “We started talking with Hardeman in 2024 and reached an acquisition the next year.”
Since then, Bumble Hole has been busy integrating procurement systems, packaging specs, and business processes, all while keeping local leadership in place. “Whatever raw material the UK needs, it’ll have. Bumble Hole will always be run and controlled here in the UK; not by the EU or the Netherlands.” For customers, this means they get the security of a large supply network, without losing the responsiveness and local decision-making they’ve always relied on. That balance of support and autonomy set the stage for the next phase of growth.
Increasing capability
Now, as part of Hardeman, Bumble Hole sits within a network that spans from laying farms and packing centers to processing plants and distribution businesses across Europe. The group processes millions of eggs each week and continues to expand through investment and acquisition. Simon is quick to credit the team behind that growth. “Our people are the heart and soul of this business. They’re incredibly dedicated and bring a wealth of experience. It’s not an easy industry to understand. You might think an egg is just an egg, but it’s not.”
Experience shapes decision-making throughout the business, Simon believes. “The only time my door is closed is when I’m in a meeting. If you want to improve, you have to listen to your people. That’s how you grow and make the right decisions.”
His open-door approach reflects the realities of a business that produces more than 40 different egg products for customers with varied requirements. From whole eggs, yolks, whites, and blends to products tailored for specific applications, the operation depends on knowledge built over years, not months.
The next phase of development centers on increasing capability while improving resilience. One of Bumble Hole’s priority projects is a planned 6000-pallet storage facility at its Bromsgrove site. The development is designed to address a familiar issue across the egg industry: fluctuating supply.
Egg availability rises and falls throughout the year as flocks move through production cycles, yet customers continue to expect consistency. Additional storage capacity will provide greater flexibility during periods of higher availability and help smooth supply throughout the year.
Technology plays a bigger role these days. By working with Hardeman’s operations in the Netherlands, Bumble Hole has seen how automation can make a difference. “Hardeman uses plenty of robotics to load machines and stack pallets, and it’s something we’re eager to bring to Bumble Hole,” Simon says.
Alongside operational investment, sustainability remains part of the agenda. Solar panels now cover most of the available roof space at the Bromsgrove facility, generating around 35 percent of the site’s annual energy requirements. The company is exploring further options around energy recovery and efficiency improvements.
Flock management is a growing focus as avian influenza makes things tough for producers across Europe. “Bird welfare means everything to us,” Simon says.
Quality and reliability
Across the wider Hardeman network, expansion continues. The business has significantly increased its scale over the last 18 months and is investing in new production infrastructure, including a major farming development in Poland. Additional laying capacity, processing capability, and expansion into new markets all help strengthen the group’s presence across Europe, the UK, and Africa.
For Bumble Hole, those developments create opportunities to grow with a level of supply security that was previously difficult to achieve. They also reinforce the importance of maintaining the standards that customers expect.
Looking ahead, Simon shares, “In five years, we want to be one of the biggest egg producers and processors in Europe. But what matters even more is being the best at what we do. Our customers care most about two things: quality and reliability.”
As new capacity comes online, systems align, and the group expands its reach, Bumble Hole’s role continues to evolve. “We’re no longer growing alone. We’re part of a wider organization, but we stay focused on the principles that have guided us for more than 60 years,” Simon concludes. In that next phase, quality and reliability remain the standards that matter most.