Boka Owners Launch 12,500 sq ft Winchester Facility
A new British granola manufacturing facility has opened its doors in Winchester, as the owners of Boka Food Limited ramp up their capabilities with a purpose-built site designed to serve a fast-growing category.
The duo behind Boka cereal bars, Franco Beer and Christopher Christofi, have unveiled a 12,500 sq ft granola factory following a £3 million investment, positioning the business to support UK cereal and granola brands seeking reliable, scalable production closer to home.
A Factory Built for Granola Growth
The new Winchester operation is run under Bakeit Food, which Beer and Christofi set up in March 2025. Since launch, the business has moved quickly – securing BRC AA certification and IFS Higher, and scaling to produce around 220 tonnes of premium granola per month.
The move comes at a time when consumer appetite for granola continues to show resilience.
Data from Kantar (52 w/e 29 September 2024) indicates granola is outperforming the wider market, delivering year-on-year volume growth of +3.4% – a signal, the founders believe, that demand is there, but UK manufacturing capacity hasn’t always kept pace.
“British Manufacturing Hasn’t Kept Up”
According to Beer, while the granola segment is growing, British granola manufacturing hasn’t kept up, leaving brands with limited UK-based options for production.
The founders say this gap created a clear opportunity: develop a site that can help scale the category and reduce the friction brands face when trying to bring new granola products to market.
Beer has pointed to a broader challenge within the sector – British granola and cereal brands struggling to find UK production – and positioned the Winchester site as a practical solution.
The aim is to provide both the consistency that established brands require and the agility that emerging brands need when developing new SKUs, seasonal variants, or bespoke recipes.
From Boka Bars to Granola at Scale
This isn’t the team’s first factory build. The founders also created a dedicated cereal bar manufacturing facility for Boka bars last year – experience they say has made them adept at building sites that can deliver a quality product quickly and efficiently.
That pace has been reflected in the Winchester rollout. Bakeit Food received the keys in March 2025, and by June 2025 the site was already producing granola – an unusually fast transition from setup to output for a food manufacturing operation working to high certification standards.
What the Winchester Site Produces
Bakeit Food’s new factory is designed to do more than simply churn out one standard recipe. The team produces an array of custom baked granola, including loose, crunch, and clustered formats – supporting different brand requirements, ingredient profiles, and texture preferences.
The facility includes baking, packing, and warehousing, with built-in capability to innovate, develop, trial, and produce a wider portfolio beyond granola.
Alongside its core granola output, the site can support production of mueslis, cereals, flapjacks, oatmeal, and nut and seed snacks, widening its appeal to both cereal brands and snack producers looking for a UK manufacturing partner.
Packaging Options Now, With More to Come
At present, the factory manufactures granola in various sizes of bag-in-box and large bulk offerings, targeting both branded retail supply and higher-volume customer needs.
However, the site is already planning its next practical step in flexibility: it is soon to add a pouch filling line, expanding the range of pack formats it can service – an important capability for brands selling through mainstream retail, DTC, and convenience channels where pouch formats are common.
A Gluten-Free Push Underway
Bakeit Food is also building towards a significant expansion in its product scope.
The site is currently in the process of attaining an AOECS gluten free certification, which would enable it to expand further into gluten-free production – an area of rising consumer interest and a key requirement for many cereal brands.
Alongside this certification journey, the business has confirmed further expansion plans set for this year, with the goal of increasing what the site can offer customers and widening the products it can manufacture under strict standards.
Bigger Ambitions Over the Next 12 Months
The founders have made it clear the Winchester investment is a platform, not a finish line. They’ve stated they have invested £3 million into the Bakeit factory and plan to grow even further in the next 12 months, continuing to build capability and capacity.
One notable planned addition is the ability to create baked bars, including products such as flapjacks, bringing more of the snack bar market into the site’s scope and building on the team’s prior experience in cereal bar manufacturing.
They have also underlined pride in achieving BRCG AA and IFS certification so quickly – an achievement that signals not just speed, but the operational discipline required to meet stringent food safety and quality benchmarks.
With continued investment, the aim is to manufacture a broader range of products for customers, including expanded gluten-free capability.
Conclusion: A UK Capacity Play With Momentum Behind It
With a 12,500 sq ft Winchester facility, a £3 million investment, and rapid progress since March 2025, Bakeit Food is positioning itself as a serious new player in British granola manufacturing.
Backed by BRC AA and IFS Higher certification and already producing around 220 tonnes per month, the business is targeting a clear market gap: enabling United Kingdom cereal and granola brands to access reliable, scalable homegrown production.
As granola continues to outpace the wider market – and with a pouch line, gluten-free certification, and baked bar capability on the horizon – Bakeit’s next 12 months look set to focus on one thing: turning a high-demand category into a stronger, better-supported UK manufacturing story.
News Credits: £3M granola factory opens in Hampshire
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