One of the UK’s leading bakeries, where provenance and home baking form the heart of the company, Fatherson Bakery, has scooped Bakery Manufacturing Company of the Year Award. Known as the Oscars of the Food and Drink Industry, The Food Manufacture Excellence Awards attracts hundreds of entries from small start-ups to multinationals.
Commenting on their award win, Fatherson owner and managing director, Laurence Smith, noted: “We are so proud as a team to win this prestigious Bakery Manufacturing Company of The Year Award. To stand in the same category as well-known companies such as the Finsbury Food Group, Greggs and Wrights Food Group is just amazing and credit to the Fatherson team. This is the first year of ownership as an MD of Fatherson, with my wife and business partner Mark Lewis and what a first year we have had. In March 2019, just a month after we took on the business, we launched a range of gluten-free snack bars and sold well over 75,000 units with repeat levels of more than 50%. We have in fact launched or re-launched over 25 product lines in the last 12 months, with 30 products planned for this year alone. And we have invested heavily in eco-friendly packaging, an issue close to our hearts at Fatherson. As a result, we are looking to become the first bakery manufacturer to become completely eco-friendly on the packaging with 100% recycled and recyclable packs.
“This award would never have been possible without the passion, drive and commitment from everyone at Fatherson, so a big thank you to the whole team.”
Laurence Smith added: “We will continue to ensure that locally sourced ingredients and seed to shelf innovation, together with eco-friendly packaging and new product development that meet retailer and consumer needs, form the heart of what we do best at Fatherson. And that ‘homemade taste’ and replicating the same ‘much loved’ baking practices used in the home kitchen will never be compromised at Fatherson. Providing provenance, delicious food, honestly made with British ingredients will remain at Fatherson and it is this approach, together with new thinking that is ‘best in class’ products, environmentally friendly packaging and new ingredient innovation, which makes us unique and award-winning.”
The award-winning Fatherson Bakery was founded in 2007, providing bakery products including sponge cakes, loaf cakes, cup-cakes, fruit pies, desserts, snack bars, tray-bakes and seasonal products to retailers such as Co-Op, Budgens, Nisa, Londis, Spar, Dobbies, Blue Diamond, Notcutts and Morrison’s as a regional supplier and many hundreds of independent grocery retailers, farm stores, café’s and garden centres around the UK. Wholesale via AF Blakemores, Booker, Peters and regional independent partners. A Fatherson Bakery product is consumed every 40 seconds!
Laurence Smith brings a wealth of business experience to Fatherson, which the company has enjoyed over the last 12 months, from developing and building ‘blockbuster’ brands such as Sharwood’s, Robertson’s, McVities, Knorr, PG Tips, Flora and Hellmann’s to driving development of ‘start-up brands’ like e-cloth into multi-million, award-winning product portfolios.
