A bakery’s products are going down so well with customers at high-end supermarket chain Waitrose that they have ordered five more from them to sell across the UK.
The deal is a massive boost to the Wrexham-based Village Bakery who started out supplying just one Waitrose store in Menai Bridge 10 years ago and are now going nationwide in 220 of their supermarkets from Penzance to Aberdeen.
The latest batch of Village Bakery branded products to grace the retail giant’s shelves are three varieties of pancakes in buttermilk, blueberry and chocolate flavours, along with sourdough and five grain crumpets.
According to Village Bakery managing director Robin Jones, the new orders were a real coup for and a testament to the quality of their products and the skill of their staff.
The new pancakes and crumpets were perfected at the Village Bakery’s state-of-the-art Baking Academy and Innovation centre on Wrexham Industrial Estate.
The family-run firm, which employs more than 400 people, is about to start production at a new gluten-free bakery nearby and also has a bakery up the road in Minera.
Mr Jones said:“It all started with Waitrose 10 years ago at their store in Menai Bridge which hit the headlines when Prince William and the then Kate Middleton were living on Anglesey during his service as a helicopter pilot working with the search and rescue team at RAF Valley.“We have been nurtured by a very, very good local buyer called Tracy Marshall and we’ve developed an excellent relationship with Waitrose.
“As a result, we have just launched the Village Bakery branded products nationally in stores right across the UK.
“That’s just testament to Waitrose’s quality, the way they think and the way they work with local suppliers. We’re just over the moon.
“They’ve we’ve taken our local, Village Bakery branded products and we’ve now gone national on three pancakes, buttermilk, blueberry and chocolate and two crumpet products, our signature sour dough crumpet and also the award winning five grains crumpet.
“It’s a massive vote of confidence in the Village Bakery by Waitrose and it’s part of our ambition to take the Village Bakery brand to every retailer nationally.
“It’s been the result of 12 months of hard work developing the products, developing the relationship, the distribution.
“The response from Waitrose customers has been fantastic, we’ve had nothing but positive feedback.
“It’s testament to the team we’ve got here to develop the products and get them to store and the relationship we’ve developed with Waitrose.
“We are a great fit with Waitrose because they are so focused on quality and good value.
“We’re very much aligned because our values are very similar and we’re very, very proud to be working with Waitrose because of what they stand for.
“We’ve got great tasting products which are reasonably priced. The secret of our success is retaining our integrity as craft bakers whilst producing great products in volume.
“We are still craft bakers but what we’ve done is we’ve increased our product ranges, we’re making more and more products but we have remained true to our roots and ensuring the integrity of our products.”
