White Rabbit Pizza Co
3 known investors
White Rabbit is a gluten free food brand that makes pizzas and other Italian-inspired dishes using traditional recipes and its own dedicated gluten free bakery. It sells to consumers for home cooking and supplies an award-winning food service range to restaurants across the country.
Also known as The White Rabbit Pizza Co. Ltd. · The White Rabbit Pizza Company · White Rabbit
Investors · 3
Also in the syndicate · 2
Company profile
researched Aug 2026White Rabbit Pizza Co (The White Rabbit Pizza Co. Ltd.) is a UK food manufacturer producing gluten free Italian-inspired food, centred on sourdough pizzas. Its range extends to sourdough sides such as roasted garlic focaccia and doughballs, fresh pasta and filled pasta, and desserts including tiramisu. The company states it uses traditional family recipes and ingredients sourced in Italy, and describes itself as the number one gluten free pizza brand.
Production is carried out in a bespoke gluten free bakery the company built from scratch in Oxfordshire, with custom-made equipment and processes designed around its gluten free recipes. The company says the production line runs on 100% green energy and that it donates stock to foodbanks. Alongside consumer retail products, White Rabbit operates a foodservice range, including vegan and gluten free raised-crust, stone-baked frozen pizza bases in 10" and 12" formats distributed to wholesalers and caterers by Central Foods.
Founding story
Co-founder Teo (Matteo Ferrari) grew up in the Italian mountains learning family recipes at his uncle's pizzeria and later worked in his family's pizzerias in Italy. Fifteen years on, while working as a chef at the White Rabbit pub in Oxford — the source of the brand's name — he met Nick (Nick Croft-Simon), then a barman at the pub. Teo's pizzas helped the pub be voted the best pizza restaurant in Oxford, and the pub received repeated requests for free-from and vegan versions. Seeing how many customers could not eat gluten, the pair set up the business, which sources place as founded in 2015, and spent about a year on recipe development, ingredient sourcing in Italy and customer taste-testing in the pub before launch.
Business model
Manufacturer and brand owner selling packaged gluten free Italian food. It sells branded chilled and frozen products through UK grocery retailers and online, and supplies a foodservice range (including plain pizza bases) to wholesalers, caterers and restaurants via distribution partners such as Central Foods.
Traction
By December 2018 the company reported rapid growth after launches in Sainsbury's, Waitrose and Ocado, expected sales of £1.2m for that financial year, and targeted £12m of revenue within three to four years. It has since expanded its range from pizza into sides, fresh pasta and desserts, and its foodservice bases are distributed nationally.
Latest developments
Preqin reports that in March 2022 the company raised GBP 1.10 million of venture funding from Guinness Asset Management, at a stated post-money valuation of GBP 19.73 million, with Guinness Global Investors listed as a current investor. The company's site now markets sourdough pizzas, sourdough sides, fresh pasta and sweet treats, and highlights its own Oxfordshire gluten free bakery.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Positions itself as the UK's number one gluten free pizza brand and as a challenger brand in the free-from category, competing against conventional pizza on taste rather than only within free-from. Preqin classifies it as an early-stage food company providing plant-based Italian foods to supermarkets and retailers.
Combines an Italian chef co-founder and family recipes with a dedicated gluten free production facility, allowing products that are free from gluten and in many cases vegan while being benchmarked against conventional Italian pizza. It also offers an award-winning foodservice range so gluten free options are available in restaurants, and emphasises accessibility across dietary need states rather than free-from alone.
Technology
The company built a dedicated gluten free bakery in Oxfordshire designed specifically around its artisanal gluten free recipes, using custom-made equipment and proprietary processes, and produces raised-crust, stone-baked pizza bases. Sourdough fermentation and Italian-sourced ingredients underpin the recipes.
Go-to-market
Retail distribution across UK grocers, with products merchandised in frozen free-from, chilled free-from, vegetarian and vegan, pasta and pizza bays, supported by an online shop locator and links to online retailers. Foodservice reach is built through wholesalers and distributors, including Central Foods, which lists the brand's frozen gluten free vegan pizza bases in its free-from, pizza and bakery categories. Growth has been supported by supermarket launches in Sainsbury's, Waitrose and Ocado, including a Waitrose exclusive on vegan pizza within the retailer's plant-based fixture, and by marketing, recruitment and NPD investment funded by its 2018 raise.
Consumers avoiding gluten, and vegan and vegetarian shoppers, buying for home cooking through supermarkets and online; plus foodservice buyers — restaurants, caterers and wholesalers — needing gluten free and vegan pizza bases and dishes.
Geography
Headquartered in Oxford/Oxfordshire, England, with its own bakery in Oxfordshire. Products are distributed across the UK through retail and wholesale channels.
History
Founded in 2015 by Nick Croft-Simon and Matteo Ferrari, the company launched into the UK retail market with sourdough pizzas and refined its recipes over more than ten years. In June 2018 it launched vegan variants in Waitrose as the retailer's exclusive pizza offer within its new vegetarian and plant-based fixture, and by late 2018 had grown following listings in Sainsbury's, Waitrose and Ocado. In December 2018 it raised £750k from angel investors, described as the first half of a larger raise with a second phase planned for spring 2019; press coverage also referenced a separate plan to raise £300k from the crowd to back a range increase. A further venture funding round was reported in March 2022. The company subsequently built its own gluten free bakery in Oxfordshire and broadened its range beyond pizza into focaccia, pasta and desserts.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 4
launches, deals, and filingsCentral Foods lists The White Rabbit Pizza Co. as a brand in its free-from, pizza and bakery ranges, offering the company's frozen gluten free vegan raised-crust, stone-baked plain pizza bases in 10" and 12" formats to wholesalers and caterers across the UK.
Preqin reports the company raised GBP 1.10 million in venture funding from Guinness Asset Management, at a stated post-money valuation of GBP 19.73 million.
The gluten free startup secured a £750k cash injection from industry angel investors including Propercorn co-founder Ryan Kohn and former Burton's Biscuits CEO Ben Clarke, valuing the business at £5m. Proceeds were earmarked for recruitment, marketing and new product development. The round was described as the first half of a larger raise, with a second phase planned for spring 2019.
White Rabbit launched vegan pizza variants in Waitrose as the retailer's exclusive pizza offer within its new vegetarian and plant-based fixture.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- White Rabbit Pizza Cowhiterabbitpizza.co.uk · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does White Rabbit Pizza Co do?
- UK maker of gluten free sourdough pizzas and Italian-inspired dishes for retail and foodservice, produced in its own Oxfordshire bakery.
- Who are White Rabbit Pizza Co's investors?
- White Rabbit Pizza Co's investors include Guinness Ventures.