The husband and wife who set up the Ooni pizza oven business could be in line for a large payout. Kristian Tapaninaho and Darina Garland, both 40, are believed to be considering selling a stake in the company amid interest from private equity firms.
Ooni, based in Broxburn, West Lothian, was founded in 2012 and employs about 120 people. Sales are said to have reached £55 million last year as the popularity of the ovens soared around the world during lockdowns.
Ooni’s portable pizza ovens typically cost between £250 and £700 and it has expanded into selling accessories and ingredients. Along with retailing directly through its own online store, its products are stocked by the likes of John Lewis and Lakeland in Britain, while it also exports to dozens of countries.
Abbreviated accounts for 2019, the most recently published that are publicly available, show a retained profit of almost £500,000 for the year and net assets of £3.8 million.
Other documents at Companies House suggest Tapaninaho, who is from Finland, and Garland, who is Scottish, have almost all the equity in the group, although there are a handful of other small investors.
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They include Paul Ross, the Ooni chairman, who is also an executive at the drinks group Edrington, and Nigel Eccles, one of the co-founders of FanDuel, the fantasy sports betting firml.
Sky News reported that Ooni could be valued at hundreds of millions of pounds and was attracting interest from private equity firms. It is thought the founders might consider selling a minority share in the company.
Ooni declined to comment directly on the speculation, but Garland issued a statement that said: “Team Ooni are very excited to be doing well and helping a lot of customers make great pizza — at the moment we’re focusing on that.”
