TUGO (for “to go”) serves the food service sector – that’s everything from schools and workplaces to theme parks and pubs. Banbury-born Lee Personius set up the business, based at Banbury Business Park near Adderbury, in 2009. It has since grown into a £25m turnover business, which is expanding into Europe. The company is owned by its 42 employees and is a B-Corp business.

TUGO’s food designers and chefs craft a range of delicious freshly-prepared recipes using the finest quality natural ingredients from a hand-picked group of trusted farmers, millers, bakers, and growers. The frozen, ambient and chilled food is manufactured and distributed by TUGO’s industry partners.

While the company website boasts of global street food and burrito concepts, it is not long before Lee’s obsession with pizza becomes very apparent! We could explain what we learned about the ins and outs of TUGO’s doughing technology, which enables their customers to offer a fresh pizza operation, but let’s turn to football!

“I’ve always loved football. As a family, we are huge sports fans,” explains Lee. “As a business, we look to support local initiatives. Societally, we are in something of a period of negativity at the moment where people are having a hard time – sport is a way in which we can bring people together.”