McGhee’s Bakery named Bakery Manufacturer of the Year 2022

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This category recognises companies striving to be the best in their sector, representing bakery manufacturing at its very best regardless of the type of baked goods they supply.

Winner: McGhee’s Bakery

McGhee’s commitment to investment in all areas – especially customer service and retention, technology and its 385 staff – is one of the many reasons judges felt the business deserved the accolade of Bakery Manufacturer of the Year 2022.

Founded in 1936 by Dugald McGhee at a small bakery in Maryhill, the group remains 100% family owned and now operates out of six sites across Scotland. These include the main manufacturing hub at McGhee’s bakery in Glasgow, which was re-housed in an £8m purpose-built facility in 2005 and has since received a further £13m investment to enhance manufacturing capacity.

McGhee’s takes pride in delivering craft products to a mass market through low-cost, high-volume production lines, each week delivering three million morning rolls and over one million potato scones to its diverse customer base, from the largest UK supermarkets to schools and small corner shops.

More recently, McGhee’s has retained the operational efficiencies it implemented through Covid and is continuing to invest in the business to ensure it stays at the forefront of bakery technology.

Dawn Foods UK and Ireland

A family-owned finalist, Dawn Foods UK and Ireland is part of a global bakery business with over 4,000 products and employees. The UK business, which has a day-to-day staff of 200 that scales up during peak production periods, is based at Evesham and manufactures dry mixes as well as wet products and finished frozen bakery goods.

In the pandemic Dawn scaled back on NPD to concentrate on team members’ wellbeing, which resulted in several initiatives such as a birthday leave policy, time off to volunteer, and a women’s leadership development programme. The judges commended Dawn’s work on sustainability, its quality management systems, commitment to customers, and NPD work.

Jacksons Bakery

Jacksons is a sixth-generation family business with 480 employees specialising in bread production using the Chorleywood process and has the capacity to produce 2.9 million loves per week. Back in 2019 the company took a prudent decision to move away from a vulnerable reliance on supplying the food-to-go sector with sandwich bread to actively engage with retail own label and, in 2021, launched an own-brand range of 14 lines for a large convenience retailer.

The judges were impressed by Jacksons’ strategic vision, ongoing investment, commitment to its staff and community, and quality production processes.