Established in 1946, the third-generation family business has appointed Rob Keeping as its managing director.
Bells of Lazonby has two bakery sites – a conventional sweet bakery and a dedicated gluten free site.
Keeping, who boasts more than 10 years’ experience across senior roles, started his career in the military and has served in various locations around the world, managing sensitive and historic investigations.
After leaving the military, he moved to London and entered the food sector. He joined Caprice Holdings in 2016 as its head of operations and held this position just shy of two years, supporting the growth of well-known brands such as the Ivy, and Balthazar Restaurant and Bakery in London and New York.
In 2017, he became managing director of Bread Holdings – which owns The Bread Factory, Gail’s, and Bertinet. During his seven-year tenure, he saw the north segment – which he led – grow more than 300% in revenue. He also oversaw the expansion of the manufacturing site and launch of Gail’s, which now has 170 stores nationwide.
As a director and shareholder of Bread Holdings, he has also seen the overall business grow, reaching £300 million with a headcount of more than 3,500 people nationally.
Speaking about his new role, Keeping said: “Bells of Lazonby is a business with quality at its core, both in retail and in food service. Coming into role, I am keen to explore new capabilities for the bakery, to drive growth in the free-from and conventional private label space and push further innovation in own brands.”
Among Bells portfolio is We Love Cake, which has grow rapidly over the last five years. Since the brand refresh last year, We Love Cake has seen a 21% and 18% uplift in volume and value respectively. Operating in UK frozen foodservice and UK retail, it is on track to become one of the UK’s biggest brands (by value sales) in free-from sweet bakery.
“We Love Cake is a fantastic range; I look forward to working with the team to gain penetration in retail and across the food service channel – to make the products work even harder for Bells of Lazonby in the free-from space,” added Keeping.
Keeping replaces Tim Conder, who steps down from the role of MD at Bells of Lazonby for pastures new. Conder was an integral part of the bakery’s rapid growth in conventional sweet bakery, free-from, and its ‘We Love Cake’ portfolio.
Keeping will start his role in September, relocating to Cumbria from Greater Manchester.
“I can’t wait to work alongside the incredible team and equally support their growth, as we build the future,” the new MD continued.
“The company values of quality, innovation and family resonate with me, and will lead us on this exciting next chapter.”
