The 19th Baking Industry Awards (2006)

For many years, people in bakery and confectionery have suggested that Jean Grieves should win the British Baker Special Award for Services to the Industry. I cannot think of a more worthy winner, writes Sylvia Macdonald. Jean has served the industry all her life and left an indelible mark upon it. As a former tutor at Tameside college, she inspired her students to achieve the highest levels of excellence.
So what makes Jean special and underpins the achievements that have seen her rise to becoming a top tutor and head up a flagging British Society of Baking (BSB) and turn it into an outstanding success? At the base of it all is her Christian faith. “If you serve the Lord, you have to give of your best,” she says. She also remembers her father saying: ”If you are going to do something, you do it really, really well and then you stand back and ask yourself, ‘Could I have improved on that?’”
But Jean turned down her parents’ invitation to join them in their successful pub and restaurant when she left school and decided to mark out her own path in life. Passing Gunstones bakery in Sheffield one day, she saw a job vacancy for the tin bench, little realising it meant washing tins all day! But fate stepped in when Jean met a great craftsman at Gunstones called Joe Geary. He suggested Jean went to Sheffield College five nights a week to study bakery, while serving an apprenticeship at Gunstones during the day. Next she went to work at a craft bakery in the confectionery department, learning how to become a cake decorator. This was followed by a scholarship to the Richemont School in Switzerland, which was to change her life. She tells people: “I had never seen anything like it!” It inspired her to really practise her confectionery skills.
She first gained the post as assistant lecturer at Sheffield College at the young age of 21, although she had never taught a class in her life. Jean loved teaching and spent her summer holidays volunteering to work in Austria, Switzerland and Germany, where she learned about everything from marzipan to meringues and took a prestigious masters degree in chocolate and sugar boiling. Next she took over running the bakery school at Tameside College and would persuade some of the best bakeries in the land to take some of her students for a few months to raise their aspirations. Yet budgets at the college were tight; Jean would be given £2,000 to run the department while equipment costs could total £15,000. So she threw a challenge out to the industry and, typically, soon had enough machinery to equip three bakeries!
Jean went on to become assistant principal of Tameside College and, when she took early retirement, she was asked to take the helm of the BSB. Her time at the top was the most successful the society has ever known. The most memorable event was the last, at the Food & Bake exhibition, where top speakers such as Greggs’ Sir Michael Darrington and Tesco’s Tony Reed, plus leading craft bakers took part. Delegates all speak of her meticulous organisation and the marvellous welcome she would give to everyone. Jean remains chairman of the Society’s Education Trust, which allocates study grants to talented young bakers and confectioners. This year, she was elected a freeman of the Worshipful Company of Bakers and she remains a member of the renowned Richemont Club. She says: “I could never walk away from this marvellous industry completely.” The industry hopes she never will; it values her contribution to the BSB, her immense talent, her attention to detail and all the work she has done in teaching and inspiring some of today’s best bakers and confectioners.

Trevor Mooney, joint managing director of Cheshire-based Arthur Chatwin says quality is of paramount importance to the business. Mooney, a traditional baker, has worked for 30 years at Arthur Chatwin, which now has 20 shops, with its flagship outlet and 70-seater café/tea room in Chester, opened in February this year. The fourth-generation family firm makes 90% of its breads, cakes and savouries from scratch.
Mooney is also president of the Richemont Club and is relishing the opportunity to “give back” to the industry which has taught him so much. “We are a family business and we care about the quality of our products and the quality of our people,” says Mooney. “Since I have been here we have always invested in both those aspects of our business.”

Andrew Wright has been manager of Wm Morrisons’ instore bakery at Ashton-on-Ribble, Lancashire for the past seven to eight months, having worked his way up through the company from a student programme. Increasing productivity and improving costs have been his successful focus during that time. “I’ve tried to get staff to develop themselves,” he says “and understand why the quality they produce must be excellent.”
The ISB produces around 140 different lines, baking little and often across the day. Seventy per cent is made from scratch. Wright says the ISB at Lancashire can now achieve sales of up to £17,000 per week, but he is constantly aiming higher.

Lindsay Williams, marketing manager of Bells of Lazonby has been building up the firm’s marketing strategies, PR and advertising over the past year to give what she describes as a “clearer product message to aid consumer choice”. The company relaunched its OK gluten- and wheat-free bread in new packaging to give improved brand awareness and a less clinical image. Williams sees this as part of broadening out the marginalisation of gluten- and wheat-free products and says that the company’s communication of its quality and adherence to stringent production levels has resulted in an extremely positive impact on sales. Bells has also worked closely with charity Coeliac UK on consumer research to target a category which she says is under-catered for: “We take our target market really seriously and want to give the message that we care.”

“We felt we had a real success story to tell this year,” says British Bakels business development manager Andy Hooper. Following a £6m investment in a new manufacturing facility, it is developing lines such as sauces, banoffee toffee and dipping products. This, plus its innovation in healthy products, including its Multiseed Bread Concentrate, has seen sales soar by 18% in the first half of 2006, he says. It has also developed a piping bag for in-store and craft bakers for use with products such as strawberry tart jelly. From low-GI goods to luxury confectionery fillings and toppings, the firm plans to increase its proportion of products with a point of difference, says Hooper. “We are more than just another supplier,” he says. So how would he sum up the Bakels message? “Commitment to the future,” he answers.

Karen Bowden, celebration cake maker at Manchester-based Slattery’s, bubbles over with enthusiasm – for her job, her teaching work and the fact that she is a finalist in this year’s Awards. “It’s an amazing feeling,” she says. Bowden has been at Slattery’s for 10 years and when she first started, had never done sugar or caricature modelling. Now she teaches cake decoration to others as well as working on wedding and birthday cakes. “Whatever I do, simple or elaborate, I finish to a standard that I would do for myself,” says the confectioner, who learned on the job. “Celebration cakes are more than a cake these days; they are a creation.”
Her favourite part of the job is fulfilling the consumer’s dream and seeing their faces when they pick up their cakes. Slattery’s, she says, gives her the freedom to develop her skills and ideas.

Andrew Trevis, plant production manager at Welsh bakery Brace’s says there have been major changes for the company in the last three to four years as it has broadened its capacity and coverage to include the south-west of England as well as Wales. The change has involved moving from 530,000 units a week to 1.2m units per week and “well over £1m refurbishment on plant”. “What we have undertaken, particularly in the last 12 months, sets us apart from the rest,” he says, adding that his staff deserve recognition for their hard work. “We are now much more known as a bakery. I care for the staff and have set up numerous training programmes since being here. We also go round schools and teach youngsters the basics of bread-making.”

Over the past year, Fudges, Dorset Village Bakery, has increased the number of products it supplies by 42%, pushed turnover up by 41% and has invested £750,000 in plant and equipment, according to managing director Stephen Fudge. “Every angle of our business as a supplier has been improved,” he says “and we have become more proactive in getting closer to our customers.”
The company produces niche products for food specialists, independents, farm stores, hamper companies and leading supermarkets. Goods range from savoury biscuits to seasonal fayre as well as its dual-branded Marmite biscuits. It will soon be launching a Colman’s master biscuit, adds Fudge. “We have sheer passion throughout the company about what we do,” he says.

“We adopt a category management approach,” says Martin Lightbody, managing director of Lightbody Celebration Cakes. “That means we don’t simply sell in the product, we assist in selling it out. This involves contact with our customers in a number of areas outside sales – for example, we have NPD resource dedicated to each retailer. We listen to our customers and make joint decisions,” he says. “With many of our customers we have participated in joint trips, both in the UK and overseas, to generate ideas that ensure our products keep up with worldwide trends.
“Our products are consumed for enjoyment and we have a passion for ensuring that our customers (and consumers) get the best in terms of innovation and quality. As a family business, we are creative in our solutions and quick to implement them.”

Genesis Breads’ Honey and Yogurt Wheaten in its Crafty bread range brought the family-run company to the notice of this year’s judges. “We launched the Crafty line to highlight the craft nature of our business,” says sales and marketing manager Liesa Donaldson. For the Honey and Yogurt Wheaten, we replaced refined sugar with honey and milk with yoghurt to create the bread. A sister product is our Honey and Yogurt Wheaten with apricots and sunfl ower seeds, topped with rolled oats.” Although Genesis is not making overt health claims about the breads, she says, the products are visibly healthy in the way they are presented. “While our products are high-quality speciality items, we want to address the needs of the modern consumer,” adds Donaldson. “We have an enterprising attitude and a distinctive approach.”

“We are a family business that cares,” says Bolton-based Greenhalgh’s Craft Bakery production director David Smart.
He explains the firm is entering its next phase of development, updating its image and rebranding its 45 retail shops to promote the hand-crafted quality of its products, using 100% Canadian wheat, for a 21st century audience. This process has just started with a new outlet in Oldham. Next year, the firm will celebrate its 50th anniversary, but Smart says the ethos it started out with still applies. “Our principle of making sure the customer gets a quality hand-crafted product at a reasonable price is still strong,” he says.
Greenhalgh’s launches up to 20 products a month, two of which are likely to become a permanent part of the range, and prides itself on its range of pies, popular in the north-west.

Eileen Goodrick, student at Tameside College, originally got the bug for baking from her father. “When I finished A-levels, I went to college to do catering,” she says, “then moved to bakery. I enjoy the creative side of baking, in particular making celebration cakes.
Goodrick is currently apprenticed at Morrisons in Derby. Having studied sciences at school she is also keen on the research and development side of the business and interested in new product development. For her entry to the Awards, she concentrated on a selection of products, made to a good standard but also with a view to cost and the value of the product to be sold.
“I like to be efficient and get things done on time, but also do a quality job, otherwise I do not feel that I have done the job to my satisfaction,” she says.