Bakery manager: ‘handmade’ cakes driving growth

Tracey Lindle, who manages the day-to-day running of Cake – part of Lomond Foods –  told FoodManufacture.co.uk​ in this exclusive interview that the grab-and-go market was the focus of the company’s main growth aspirations.

Earlier this year, Cake moved into a new factory on the south side of Glasgow, as part of plans to grow sales to £5M from its present turnover of £1.5M.

‘Seven times the size’​

Lindle said: “This site in Thornliebank is seven times the size of our previous factory. The increased space has enabled us to invest in a lot more equipment which, in turn, has improved efficiency.​

“There is a move to people wanting handmade finished products, as opposed to factory-produced pre-packaged items. It’s a big market for us. All of our products are hand-finished, and we can package them as required.”​

To read more on how Lindle is aiming for a bigger slice of the bakery market – part of our ‘Me and My Factory’ series of profiles – order your copy of the November issue of Food Manufacture​ magazine​ .

£3.6M investment​

Meanwhile, the head of another Scottish bakery has said the first phase of a £3.6M investment will enable his firm to grow its pastry business beyond its north-of-the-border heartland.

In an exclusive video interview​, Ronnie Miles, md at Bells Food Group, told FoodManufacture.co.uk that the purchase of a laminator had doubled the company’s pastry-making capacity to around 120t.

Miles, who has been at the company 27 years, added that phase two of the investment would focus on improving productivity and efficiency across Bells’s two sites, in Shotts, Lanarkshire.

Do you and your factory have a story to tell? If you think you would make a suitable Me and My Factory candidate, Food Manufacture’s associate editor Noli Dinkovski​ would love to hear from you.​