When Bakkavör recently presented its plans for expansion to investors, it made its point with the last slide in the show – a picture of the globe impaled on a fork.

The fresh prepared food group’s global aspirations are ambitious. It aims to lift sales from almost £1.5bn in 2007 to £4bn by 2012. That may seem a big task, but its sales increased tenfold between 2004 and 2007.