Patties traces its history back to 1966 when Dutch immigrants Peter and Annie Rijs bought a small cake shop named Patties in Lakes Entrance, Victoria. As they expanded their range, Patties Pies became more and more popular and distribution widened.  In 1974 they built a new bakery in Lakes Entrance, moving the operation to the former Sunicrust bakery in Bairnsdale two years later. Further expansion followed with the brand becoming known for party pies and other finger foods.

In 2003, Patties Pies bought Four ‘n Twenty, Herbert Adams and Nanna’s from the American-owned Simplot, putting the iconic pie brands back in Australian hands and flying in the face of a trend towards foreign ownership of Australian food and beverage manufacturing. At the time of purchase, Four ‘n Twenty had been under foreign ownership for eight years.

The Patties purchase saw the manufacture of Four ‘n Twenty moved to Bairnsdale, Victoria, with the plant in Kensington being closed. More than 200 workers at the Melbourne factory lost their jobs. The acquisition of several of Australia’s best-known pie brands (Wedgwood, Herbert Adams, Boscastle’s Nanna’s) in 2003 took the company to a new level and they claimed to be the biggest pie manufacturer in the world.

In 2006, Patties Pies was listed on the stock exchange as Patties Foods. In 2016, the company celebrated its 50th anniversary with a function in its hometown, hosted by Peter Rejs, a director and son of the founders.  By that time, the company was the fourth largest purchaser of beef in Australia and had more than a 50 per cent value share of the frozen savoury food market and 47 per cent of the frozen fruit pie market.

All this success provoked the interest of an Australian private equity group, PEP, which bought the company in 2016. Patties then began to acquire further food companies including Leader Food, makers of snack foods for the food service market. In 2018, the company increased its dominance of the pie market, acquiring the gourmet Boscastle pie brand.

Australian ownership of Patties Pies – and of its iconic Australian brands like Four ‘n Twenty – wasn’t to last, however. The Asian investment group, PAG, acquired Patties Foods in 2022. At the same time, PAG acquired Vesco, makers of frozen food products including Lean Cuisine. PAG stated that:

The acquisition of these two leading Australian companies is the latest investment by PAG’s Australian-based private equity team in the food and consumer sector…PAG has an extensive track record of supporting growth for its portfolio companies, having previously acquired The Cheesecake Shop – the largest franchised bakery network in Australia and New Zealand – and successfully expanding the business’ network and footprint across its markets.