The chief executive of gourmet foods company Maggie Beer Holdings says strong trading in April and May is a sign that new customers who migrated to the group’s brands in the pandemic are “sticky” and that buying patterns have altered permanently.

Chantale Millard said the company expects that when vaccination programs ramp up and economies fully open there will still be robust growth, particularly in online channels, but it will not be at the spectacular levels of last year when in-home consumption spiked across food brands.