Exclusive: Tesco buys Euphorium Bakery

Tesco has bought the remaining stake in Euphorium Bakery, British Baker can reveal.

The supermarket giant first twinned with the bakery chain in October 2012 when it opened a concession in its Kensington store. The following year it bought a larger stake in the company and began a rollout of the brand in its stores.

However, with recent sales woes for the supermarket and the change of senior management, there were fears the supermarket would abandon the Euphorium project or that it would take a hiatus.

Euphorium currently has 59 concessions within Tesco stores, as well as six standalone sites, along with a bakery to service the Tesco stores in Weybridge in Surrey.

A spokesman for the retailer told British Baker: “We’d like to thank Danny Bear for all his hard work and dedication in making Euphorium the business it is today. Euphorium is a great brand and where we have extended it into stores, it has proved really popular with customers. Our priorities remain the colleagues working for Euphorium and providing a great service to customers." 

The news Tesco has acquired the whole of Euphorium comes just weeks after it was revealed that Michael Holmes, the man charged with heading up Euphorium and Harris + Hoole had left the supermarket.

Last May Tesco said it would create 1,000 new roles for bakers within the Euphorium project, after it planned to shut 100 in-store bakeries.

Euphorium was founded by Daniel Bear in Islington in 1999.