Janes Bakery has revealed its plans for the reopening of recently acquired Coughlans stores, including how they will be supplied and the menu items likely to be found at them.
Speaking to British Baker, the Gloucester-based firm confirmed it was currently looking to reopen 20 of the 31 sites across South London, Surrey, Kent and West Sussex that were closed when Coughlans went into voluntary liquidation on 1 July.
Locations for the shops, which will be relaunched under the Janes Pantry brand, have yet to be revealed. However, the business confirmed it would be taking a phased approach rather than opening all 20 in one go.
It also confirmed that the Coughlans deal did not include its 25,000 sq ft production site in Thornton Heath raising the question of how the new Janes Pantry stores are to be stocked.
To answer this, it’s important to look at the bigger picture – one of an emerging food group established by Parnasa Capital, which acquired Janes Bakery last September and then Notting Hill Bakery in London at the start of the year.
The Luxembourg-headquartered private equity firm began assembling a portfolio of premium food brands in 2024 when it purchased both Somerset-based sweet treat manufacturer Percy’s and Dorset-based chocolate maker Chococo. The name Percy’s Group has been chosen to bring these four businesses together, it noted.
The 4,500 sq ft Janes Bakery manufacturing site on Lower Tuffley Lane in Gloucester, which employs 34 production staff, and the 14,000 sq ft Notting Hill Bakery facility in Barley Shotts Business Park (53 staff) will supply products to the former Coughlans locations. This will follow a proven supply model for existing Janes outlets, which has lines prepared and delivered on an overnight cycle with a number freshly baked or finished in-store during the day.
Percy’s also operates an 11,000 sq ft factory at Lufton Trading Estate in Yeovil, whcih has bakery capabilities, but its team of 72 staff specialise in different categories to the Janes offering. Among its output are chocolate products and biscuits such as a branded range of Florentines along with private-label items. As such, it has been ruled out of the Janes Pantry supply chain.
Coughlans directors have yet to respond to enquiries about the fate of their historic bakery, which the family business had operated since 1971.
Coincidentally, Janes Pantry also started out in 1971, co-founded by Tony and Barbara Philips and named after their youngest daughter. The brand grew from a sandwich bar on St Aldates Street in Gloucester into a local bakery chain and wholesale business, managed for years by Neville Morse. It currently operates a dozen shops and cafes across Gloucester and Cheltenham with around 100 employees on its books.
A number of former bakers at Coughlans have now been relocated to Gloucester, which Janes Bakery said it was pleased about, recognising that their “experience is valuable to us”.
What’s on the menu?
Menus are to be tailored to each new Janes Pantry store, but will include bestsellers including sausage rolls, traditional pasties, steak bakes, and filled doorstep sandwiches, alongside daily breads, morning goods, and cakes and traybakes.
Coughlans’ predominantly vegan range had previously attracted TV comedian Romesh Ranganathan to become a part-owner in 2024. Janes noted how “plant-based and vegetarian options were clearly important to customers at these sites and we intend to keep serving them properly, not as a token line,” adding that it would offer the likes of vegan sausage rolls, cheese & onion pasties, and salads.
The company is also planning a brand evolution to be first introduced at the new shops and then rolled back across the existing Gloucestershire estate. Further retail growth is anticipated to be focused along the M4 corridor between Gloucester and London while additional sites in the surrounding areas of its bakery will be selected “where the right locations come up”.
Whereas production synergies across the Percy’s Group are limited due to the distance, it said it was actively consolidating its marketing, sales, NPD, purchasing, and central management. This is “where scale genuinely helps a business of this size without diluting the individual brands”, added the company.
There is also a pipeline of new stores for Notting Hill Bakery, which currently has just the one on Portobello Road. A second is set to open in Q4 2026 with three more coming next year.
Investments shall be made at Percy’s too to help develop its wholesale and white-label side, where its strengths are said to lie. “We tend to invest brand by brand rather than run one central programme, on the basis that each business knows its own market best, and we would expect to have more to say on both over the coming year,” said Janes.
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