Growing Welsh bakery creates 50 new jobs thanks to booming exports

Record overseas sales are fuelling growth at a Welsh bakery where 50 new jobs are up for grabs after landing new contracts in the Middle East and Australia.

Exports are set to break through the £10 million barrier this year at the fast-growing Jones Village Bakery in Wrexham.

Among its recent successes is clinching two deals to supply gluten-free products to seven Gulf States in the Middle East.

Earlier this year the company started shipping products to Australia  where the company’s pancakes have proved a big hit and are now being sold and served up right across the vast country.

At the same time the bakery is also experiencing surging demand from Europe, particularly in France, Germany, Belgium and Holland.

All of this is on top of supplying a worldwide network of around 200 M&S stores – as far afield as Hong Kong, Singapore and the Middle East – with crumpets, scones, pancakes, bagels, rolls, Welsh Cakes and pikelets.

Recognition

The company’s growing success with overseas sales has been recognised by the Welsh Government who have named the Village Bakery as an official Welsh Export Champion.

Commercial Director Lesley Arnot said: “Our exports are doing really well for us and we are going from strength to strength in all the different countries that we’re dealing with and we’re adding a few more on the order book.

“We’re also enjoying success in the Middle East where we’ve launched across several different countries with two different retailers out there.

“I’m absolutely delighted with the way things are developing – and there’s much more to come as well. We have some really good foundations for expansion into other export markets.

“There is huge potential for further growth and we are getting good support from the UK Government’s Department of Business and Trade and the Welsh Government to help us get established in different countries so it’s really exciting times.”

It was a sentiment echoed by the Village Bakery’s Commercial Controller, New Zealander Glen Marriott, who played a key role in securing the Australia contract.

He said: “The distributor was looking for a new supplier and Googled people who make pancakes and we popped up because we had just invested £2 million in a new pancake production line.

“They liked our values and how we promote from within, the quality of the products and the facilities and that prompted a phone call from their managing director and it went from there.

“They have launched two ranges , a food service range and a retail range. They’ve had a really excellent response. They started out in Western Australia and the only state where they’re not available is Tasmania – so we’ve got mainland Australia completely covered.

“Because of the Free Trade Agreement with Australia, the UK Government is very keen to promote companies that are doing trade in Australia and so they have been very supportive and they have opened quite a few doors for us in other markets as well.

“We’re reaping the benefit of the trade agreement because it’s reduced the barriers to getting product in, so we don’t have any issues on that score. We’ve not had any hold-ups with anything.

“It also  shows the value of the investment the Village Bakery made in the new pancake line. It was money well spent.”

Delight

Senior National Account Manager Allison Winstanley is being kept busy looking after major UK and European retailers.

She said: “I’m fluent in German and I speak passable French so I also look after our European exports, managing our customer base in Germany and France.

“I’m very busy because there are lots of new opportunities that we’re following up on, as well as developing the relationships with existing customers.

“I love working here because there’s a very dynamic, fast paced environment. There are lots of new and exciting challenges here every day.”

CEO Robin Jones said: “Exports are really taking off and the team are doing an absolutely brilliant job, finding some great partners and distributors.

“I’m delighted with what Lesley, Glen, Allison and the rest of the commercial team have done – because they are the ones who have landed these orders. They are all playing an absolute blinder.

“Our target of increasing overseas sales to £10 million is very realistic with the way things are going in Australia, the Middle East and Europe. It’s really exciting.

“We make really, really good quintessential British products and there’s clearly a growing appetite for them at home in the UK but also abroad

“It’s wonderful to think you can buy Village Bakery products in so many places across the world, whether that’s Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore or across so much of mainland Europe.

“This is all creating extra volume here so it feeds into sustaining existing jobs and creating new ones which all adds up to boosting the local economy here in Wrexham.”