Two Magpies Bakery, which operates ten bakeries and cafes across Suffolk and Norfolk, was able to mitigate the impact of employee National Insurance increases by finding efficiencies across its business.
This includes closing the Framlingham base of Hilton Macarons, a firm it acquired in October 2024, and shifting production to its site in Darsham, Suffolk. It has also refurbished its Mini Magpies site at Southwold, 12 years after it was opened, and shifted all production to its bakery in Walpole.
“The government’s budget left us with a shortfall of £800k that we needed to cover, which forced us to really look at where we were spending money and how we can work more efficiently overall,” said Yasmin Wyatt, operations director at Two Magpies.
“We have made some large changes to some of our key sites and moved all our production to Walpole, meaning all of our Two Magpies products are now produced in one place.”
On the Hilton Macarons site closure, she noted: “Bringing the two businesses all under one roof has provided another cost saving.”
Two Magpies has undergone a huge expansion over the last few years, but was forced to react quickly in the face of rising costs.
“Due to our fast action, we have managed to absorb the potential impact from the budget, and stay on track for another profitable year in 2025,” Wyatt explained.
“In fact, we had a record number of sales over Easter weekend, the biggest we’ve ever had, proving that business remains strong across all our sites. We have worked hard to ensure that there are no obvious changes to our customers and they still receive the top quality service the brand is known for.”
Wyatt added that the Mini Magpies site upgrade has improved how the bakery operates on a day to day basis.
“We’d already changed Southwold into our Mini Magpies style, but we have now reduced the seating further, allowing the bulk of trade to be takeaway,” she said.
“This has meant that the flow of the store has changed, with one continuous line. We have found this a really positive step for the store, with more add on sales increasing transaction value.”
Opened in Southwold in 2013, Two Magpies has since established a central bakery and baking school in Darsham, as well as cafes in Aldeburgh, Framlingham, Norwich, Blakeney, Holt, Walpole, Woodbridge, Wells-Next-The-Sea and Beccles.
