Fifty jobs are up for grabs at a top bakery – with another 65 on the way.
The fast-growing Jones Village Bakery is gearing up for the opening of its new super bakery on Wrexham Industrial Estate.
The firm is looking for 30 full-time workers and 20 part-time staff with family-friendly shifts also on offer.
It’s the first phase of an expansion plan that will ultimately see 115 new jobs being created.
The company, which currently employs more than 400 people, has two other bakeries on the industrial estate and another in the nearby village of Minera.
The family-run outfit is a Real Living Wage employer and pay rates for new recruits start at £9.50 an hour with supervisors earning up to £13.24 an hour.
The new 140,000 sq ft bakery is four times the size of the one its replacing after the original one was destroyed by a devastating fire in August, 2019.
As well as housing the company’s main offices, the new complex will also include the new Baking Academy and New Product Development kitchen – both twice the size of the previous ones.
The new bakery is due to be up and running before the end of July, after being kitted out with the latest and most technologically advanced equipment on the market.
According to Managing Director Robin Jones, it will be the most modern bakery in Europe when it’s up and running.
He said: “This is a hugely exciting time for the Jones Village Bakery. Whilst we’re going to move some staff in from our bakery in Minera to help launch the new bakery, we’ve got vacancies at our other bakeries and we’re just trying to get people in to come on the journey of growth with us.
“We’re recruiting 30 full-time permanent employees and we’re now going to reintroduce some part time vacancies on top of that as well.
“We’re now going to bring those people in on our peak days and rather than working a 12-hour shift, we can work shorter shifts which are more family-focused and family friendly.
“We have had a policy of growing our own staff for many years and three of our bakery managers started out on the ground floor.
“What I want to share with anybody we take on is that our strong growth at the moment equals opportunities and that there is a great career to be had at the Jones Village Bakery.
“We’re looking for the next line leaders, supervisors, production managers. The career path at the Jones Village Bakery is very well documented and we’re looking for people who want to apply themselves.
“It’s not purely about qualifications. This is about people who want to make a difference, people who are passionate and people who want to get on in life.
“Keenness and the ability to learn are the foremost qualities we’ll be looking for – we want to nurture those people, teach them how to be top class bakers and take them on that journey of success.
“We’ve got huge ambitions to grow this business. We need those people with us now so that by this time next year, they are running the machines, they are supervising the bakery equipment, they are running a team of people.”
Monika Djiurvz first joined the Jones Village Bakery 13 years ago, working on the production line and has since moved up the career ladder to become a Quality Assurance Technician.
She said: “It’s a fantastic company to work for because they give you opportunities to progress and develop.
“For people who work hard, you’re rewarded and you can have a really good career here.”
Recent recruit Andy Turner, the newly-appointed Head of Technical at the Jones Village Bakery, said: “What attracted me was the Jones Village Bakery’s well-deserved reputation for making fantastic products.
“The company’s reputation for excellence is based on its uncanny ability to combine the very best ingredients, with the best equipment and the best staff.
“That ensures the team can use its skills as proper craft bakers to product the finest products in the volume required by our customers.”
Group HR Manager Jason Page, Group HR Manager said: “We are in full recruitment mode at the moment and that’s testament to the Jones Village Bakery’s success.
“We make really great, quality products and off the back of that we are winning orders after orders after orders and having to increase the workforce accordingly.
“The new super bakery gives us the capacity to continue growing which means there are great opportunities for people who want to join and contribute to a winning team.
“In the main we are looking for Production Operatives and Packing Operatives. The Jones Village Bakery is a Real Living Wage employer so that’s £9.50 per hour if you’re working on days and £9.79 if you’re working on nights.
“We look to try to identify talent, upskill individuals and then we have a range of pay rates, rising all the way through to £13.24 for our supervisory positions and there’s a whole raft of rates in between them.”
