The rise of the meat pie: sales at the footy double

The AFL has not only been able to stem a decline in crowd numbers, it also appears to have made spectators hungrier.

Sales of pies at the footy have doubled in the past four months after the MCG and Etihad Stadium slashed the price of food and drinks to levels not seen in more than a decade.

The maker of Four'N Twenty pies, Patties Foods, praised the AFL-led initiative, saying its sales at the two venues had surged up to 100 per cent.

The revenue gain comes after a tough 12 months for Patties. Its net profit dived 88 per cent to $2.1 million for the year to June 30, following an outbreak of hepatitis A linked to packets of its Nana's frozen mixed berries.

This led to a product recall, which lasted for almost three months and a $13.6 million write-down, said Patties chief executive Steven Chaur​.

He said the company's frozen-berry business remained in "recovery mode", despite testing not detecting hepatitis A or E.coli in products sold to supermarkets. But Patties' savoury division has remained strong, helping to deliver a 3.7 per cent rise in overall revenue to $257 million.

Mr Chaur said a key part of this was the company's sponsorships, particularly its deal with the AFL.

At the start of the 2015 season, the league moved to turn around falling crowd numbers by introducing a series of initiatives, including working with the MCG and Etihad Stadium to make food more affordable.

Attendance swells

As a result, the MCG average crowd this year has jumped 5 per cent compared with the 2014 season, while Etihad has experienced a 0.2 per cent gain, according to the AFL.

"Consumers have responded really well," Mr Chaur said. "We have certainly seen in our pie business increases of between 50-100 per cent in sales as ... consumers re-engage with having a pie at the footy. It's been a dramatic turnaround."

However, while prices have been slashed at the footy, the cost of Patties pies elsewhere has increased in the past 12 months, as the company contended with soaring beef prices.

Mr Chaur said Patties had several "small" prices rises so consumers weren't hit at once. He said the had been limited after the company cut costs by about $5 million and trial new methods of buying meat, including purchasing livestock directly.

"While we proved we can do it - working with a number of processors to process the animal and take the meat… it's not something that Patties Foods necessarily wants to jump into.

"But it's important that as you face these potential headwinds you understand the true costs of what the options are."

Mr Chaur was confident Patties would deliver "profitable growth" this financial year.

Patties shares jumped 4.4 per cent on Monday to $1.18. The company will pay a final dividend of 5¢ a share, fully franked on October 8. This compares with a payout of 3.9¢ a share in 2014.