Warrens Bakery, one of the UK’s leading craft bakeries and the world’s oldest pasty maker, appears at number 32 in this year’s Top 150 Companies in Devon and Cornwall in the Western Morning News’ Annual Business Guide 2016. With expansion this year across Devon, Cornwall and Somerset, as well as a new store opening in Bristol, it’s no surprise the bakery, which employs approximately 500 people and has undergone an extensive rebrand across 51 stores, has had a hugely successful year.
Commenting on Warrens Bakery’s success, chairman Mark Sullivan says: “We are delighted with the progress as we continue our expansion strategy. Our turnover has grown significantly in the past three years and we expect this to continue as we drive towards £20m/annum through organic developments and acquisitions. This year we have expanded into new regions, such as our high street store in Bristol, but also through our rebranding programme, a major area of investment which has just been completed and seen all of stores, packaging, logo and website transformed.”
Mark continues: “Over the next 12 months we plan to expand our production facility in St Just, where it all began, and continue to diversify geographically. However, this will not come at the expense of the quality and provenance, which Warrens Bakery’s products are renowned for. We will continue to produce the best craft products as well as constantly innovating. We take great pride that when people purchase our goods they are receiving a handcrafted item made with passion and over 150 years of experience.”
During the past year Warrens Bakery has had unparalleled success in the pasty field, being named World Champion at Eden, trade champion at the 2016 British Pie Awards and the people’s champion in a series of local polls. However, it’s not only pasties that this award-winning bakery produces. Warrens Bakery also make fresh sandwiches, savouries, luxury scones, artisan breads, deep-filled muffins, tray bakes, sweet treats and speciality biscuits. In 2015 the business was recognised as one of the top three craft bakeries in the UK at the prestigious Baking Industry Awards.
As the oldest bakery in Cornwall, innovation as well as provenance and a dedicated work force, has seen Warrens Bakery receive huge recognition both on a local and national scale in recent years. Forging the way in craft baking, innovative additions to their range have included the first ever Mince Pie Pasty, which received acclaim as far afield as New Zealand, the Ploughman’s Pasty, which has been hugely popular in recent months, a range of speciality breads using Cornish Sea Salt, as well as savoury biscuits using seaweeds and other local ingredients.
