When it comes to the evolution of the 22-year partnership between Fine Lady Bakeries and Aldi, volumes speak volumes.
The family-owned manufacturer has seen its supply of own-label bread lines to the UK supermarket retailer grow from around 100,000 loaves per week in 2003, produced at its Banbury site in Oxfordshire and distributed regionally, to reach a current weekly national distribution of approximately 1.9m loaves.
The support of Aldi is cited as one of the main factors that also allowed the company to open a purpose-built bakery in the Newton Heath area of northeast Manchester in 2010. Both of its production sites are 440,000 sq ft in size, with Banbury seeing continued investment to grow capacity significantly, create new facilities, and expand its team to 450 employees, while Manchester now houses three large bread plants staffed by a workforce of 300.
Several of Aldi’s most popular bread lines are produced by Fine Lady Bakeries, including the Village Bakery White Toastie Loaf and the Super Seeded Loaf and Wholemeal Seeded Loaf under its premium tier Specially Selected range. Having begun supplying a single line of fruited hot cross buns in 2009, it has since made a variety of different flavours of the seasonal bakery treat for the discounter – more than 2.5m packs were produced for this year’s Easter campaign alone.
Returning for 2025 were the Village Bakery Rhubarb & Custard Hot Cross Buns (first introduced in 2019), which has inclusions of candied rhubarb pieces and white chocolate chips, along with the Village Bakery Nutoka Hot Cross Buns and Specially Selected Banoffee Hot Cross Buns – all are priced at £1.09 for a four-pack. “We are already working on some new ones for 2026,” revealed Tom Bailey, senior national account manager at Fine Lady Bakeries.
Additionally, the Banbury-based bakery supplier says it is continually working on new ways to be more sustainable. It has reduced the micron thickness of its bread bags by 25% to help cut plastic use, and added more double-deck vehicles to its fleet to lower delivery mileage. “This means we have reduced our driver’s mileage by 967,000kms last year,” commented Bailey.
Julie Ashfield, chief commercial officer at Aldi UK, described Fine Lady Bakeries as a “much-loved supplier at Aldi”, whilst proclaiming the “22nd successful Easter working alongside them”.
“Whether it’s a delicious hot cross bun or a white toastie loaf, the products are always hugely popular amongst our shoppers – not just at Easter but throughout the year,” she said. “At Aldi, we constantly champion British suppliers and Fine Lady Bakeries is a brilliant example of this. This is just one of the many long-term British supplier partnerships that we value so greatly as a business.”
Earlier this year, Aldi rolled out an aesthetic upgrade to bakery fixtures at its UK stores as part of a £67m investment throughout 2025 to deliver an “even better shopping experience”.
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