Bristol-based pie restaurant and manufacturer Pieminister has smashed its target of planting 50,000 trees in Malawi with its Pie One Get One Tree campaign.

At festivals and in its restaurant, Pieminister sold every single one of its special edition Scrumpea and Tipsy Chicken pies, made with Somerset cider donated by Orchard Pig. The Tipsy Chicken pie proved so popular that an open-top variant is to be added permanently to the menu.

The 57,176 trees will be planted before the end of the year by Bristol charity Temwa, long-term friend and neighbour of Pieminister, to support its Community Forest Project in northern Malawi. The project aims to prevent devastating soil erosion in the region.

Jon Simon, Pieminister co-founder and managing director, said: “The size of our forest - which will cover more area than 30 football pitches - is down to the support of our loyal pie fans. Both in our restaurants and at the summer’s festivals, people loved trying the two special pies we created to support this great cause.

“I’m sure the delicious taste of Somerset cider in both recipes is why they sold like hot cakes - or rather, pies!”

Trees

Temwa fights poverty with community-based projects, giving people the knowledge and resources to become self-sufficient. The trees will combat falling crop yields in the Nkhata Bay North region by fighting the rapid deforestation of the area, 30% in 10 years.

Jo Hook, founder of Temwa, said: “Nkhata Bay North is a particularly isolated part of the country and its community needs to cut and use trees every day for firewood and building. It’s crucial that these trees are replaced, not only to stabilise the soil which erodes without tree roots, but also to stabilise the lives of the Nkhata Bay North people.

“This Pieminister forest will change so many lives for the better, so thank you for eating all the pies this summer.”

Pieminister was founded in 2003 by Jon Simon and Tristan Hogg. It runs pie restaurants, cafés and pubs across the UK and supplies supermarkets including Asda, Tesco, Waitrose and Ocado.

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