Finalists for Bakery Retailer of the Year 2026 revealed

Thanks to our category sponsor

Competition is tough in the Bakery Retailer of the Year category with four of the six finalists having lifted the trophy in recent years. So, who will claim the title in 2026?

Judges of the category, sponsored by IFF, were looking for businesses with an excellent strategy for bakery retailing, a strong emphasis on product quality and NPD, and the ability to deliver an award-winning customer experience in store. The process included interviews with decision makers and product developers, as well as mystery shops to ensure the strategy was filtering down to stores.

Here are the bakery retailers in the running to lift the trophy at the Baking Industry Awards 2026:

Birds Bakery

East Midlands-based family-run chain Birds Bakery is back for another shot at the trophy, having previously won in 2021. It currently operates 62 sites with more joining its estate later this year, with several switched to the new branding and store design.

Craft is at the heart of the Birds operation as it aims to deliver exceptional quality, consistency and customer experience across its estate. This of this is serviced by its central production facility in Derby, although it has a growing portfolio of food-to-go such as sandwiches, rolls, and salads which are freshly prepared in store for customers. Automation ensures good levels of consistency and efficiency across its range, with the likes of speciality loaves still made by hand, and its confectionery and cream lines, such as the iconic Elephants Foot, finished by hand.

Recent innovation includes the Cheese Pizza, which is crafted from surplus XL sandwich rolls, delivering against its sustainability strategy while providing a great value options for shoppers at £1.35. Mrs B’s Rocky Road, developed by MD Jamie Bird’s mother-in-law, has also become a customer favourite. These, Birds says, demonstrates how it ‘blends innovation, value and purpose, and why they have resonated so strongly with our customers’.

Staff training, meanwhile, aims to ‘ensure every colleague has the skills, confidence and clarity to deliver exceptional customers experiences’. This was experienced by the judges first hand who said Birds is serving its communities well. “The store was buzzing”, one judge said, with another praising the “extremely helpful staff”. “You could tell they are part of the community,” they added.

Gail’s

Reigning champion Gail’s is hoping to hold on to its title of Bakery Retailer of the Year and has made some significant progress over the past year.

This includes hitting the 200-store milestone, an increase of more than 30 from when it lifted the trophy. Part of this comes from exploring places where it ‘hasn’t been easy to find food made properly’, such as airports and shopping centres, as well as continuing its growth in neighbourhoods. All helps serve its ambition to ‘make exceptional craft baking a part of every community’.

But it’s not all about estate growth. Gail’s said it always ‘strives to do better, continuously improving our recipes and creating new ones that balance innovation with craft, without compromising taste’. It does this by partnering with small scale producers, utilising seasonal ingredients, and improving its sustainability credentials through regeneratively crown crops and championing British farming.

This story is delivered to customers by employees known as Breadheads who are trained in classrooms and workshops at its Camden training academy, as well as on-the-job in bakeries. The Breadheads encountered by the judges were described as “passionate and knowledgeable”.

A seasonal rotation of NPD keeps customers engaged, but standout new lines, according to Gail’s, include the Taleggio & Mushroom Savoury Bun and Sesame & Cardamom Morning Bun. Products sampled by the judges were deemed to be “very good” with particularly shout outs to the Harissa Chicken Sanwich, Chocolate Babka, and Ham & Cheese Croissant.

Lidl

Lidl’s operates more than 1,000 in-store bakeries (ISB) across the UK utilising a bake off and thaw and serve model to deliver a range of speciality loaves, rolls, savoury offerings such as pizzas and topped focaccia, sweet treats, and more to customers.

The discounter, which was crowned Bakery Retailer of the Year 2023, operates a two-pronged strategy for bakery – to deliver superior quality at the best price helping it to secure its position as the number one ISB in Great Britain and consistently surprise and delight customers.

The latter is aided by its rotating Special Guests and Doughnut of the Month which has seen it launch more than 40 new items since the start of the year. These include Half & Half Cookies, Pistachio Brioche Croissants, School Cake, and Eton Mess Puddle Doughnuts which are displayed in brightly coloured dedicated bays of its in-store bakery fixtures. Some of these launches have proven so successful that they have been added to the permanent line-up.

If that wasn’t enough to keep shoppers visiting the bakery, Lidl also utilises social media and its Lidl Plus loyalty app to further boost engagement.

While Lidl says every single member of a store team is trained in bakery best practice, colleagues have the opportunity to become a bakery specialist which upskills them in areas such as sales forecasting and bakery merchandising.

When visited by the judges, Lidl’s ISBs were deemed to be “clean and tidy” and well stocked for the time of day of each visit, with staff deemed “helpful and knowledgeable”.

Marks & Spencer

M&S aspires to be ‘the artisan bakery of the high street’, aiming to deliver high-quality products that resonate with consumers at a fair price.

The retailer operates 650 in-store bakeries utilising bake off and thaw and serve models with an increased focus on quality of ingredients and end products, and innovation. There’s been no shortage of the latter over the past year with the Chunked N’ Loaded Cookies and Dunked N’ Loaded Doughnuts taking customers and the internet by storm. It hasn’t taken its eye off existing products though with upgraded recipes for its Croissant and Pain Au Chocolat thanks to a ‘laser focus’ butter sourcing and hand placement of chocolate sticks which has delivered a decent uptick in sales. There’s more in the pipeline with 20% of its range set to be upgraded in 2026.

Bakers can access training through the ‘Bake it well’ digital programme, which was upgraded in 2025, with hands-on training offered as well. This is intensified in the run up to new store openings to ensure staff hit the ground running.

All of the above is clearly paying off with customers and staff alike with the judges noting that the “bakery was buzzing” at one store visited. They added that the staff were “incredibly friendly and knowledgeable” and “more than happy to chat to customers”, with good levels of stock throughout.

Morrisons

Morrisons’ strategic vision for bakery retailing is anchored in its core purpose – to provide fresh, high-quality food to more people while fiercely protecting traditional British baking crafts.

The vast majority of its estate, more than 400 stores, operate as scratch bakeries. It is this which the retailer believes sets it apart from competitors. Morrisons leverages a workforce of 1,200+ skilled bakers, leading the way with a dedicated apprenticeship program to ensure craftsmanship remains a visible, sensory ‘theatre’. This approach, it adds, is best exemplified by its doughnut production, which remains scratch-made daily in the majority of stores.

This was on full display during the judging visits, with bakers seen by judges and shoppers, and happy to answer any questions that arose from both. Bakers’ names were often displayed above the bakery which offered a personal touch to the experience.

The ISB operation is supported by the specialised Market Street Cake Shops. These are divided into cream operations (roughly 75% of the estate) which utilise 100% British cream for cakes, tarts, and patisserie items, and non-cream which focus on ambient treats.

Innovation spans what Morrisons describes as high-volume scratch heroes, such as its 400g Salt & Pepper Cob, seasonal Hot Cross Loaf, and nostalgic Rhubarb & Custard Doughnuts, as well as artisanal items including the Seeded Californian Sourdough and French Baguette which sit under its premium own-label range, The Best.

The Salt & Pepper Cob and seasonal Passionfruit & Mango Doughnut were particularly favourites for the judges, with one describing the doughnut as “zingy, soft, and perfectly sugared”, while the sourdough loaves and cookies were also commended.

Waitrose

Waitrose operates more than 320 in-store bakeries across its estate from which it delivers a ‘premium and high-quality bakery experience to millions of customers weekly’. Its aim is to maintain ‘absolute consistency, minimise waste, and guarantee exceptional quality’ across every single site.

This is delivered through three key pillars on the shop floor: strategic partnerships with premium, pioneering brands; abundant and inviting visual merchandising; and the ‘last mile’ scent and theatre (filling the store with the aroma of freshly baked products which lure consumers to the bakery).

Pioneering brands including artisanal allies such as Gail’s and sustainability focused firms in the form of Wildfarmed. There are also ultra-premium regional champions such as Poilâne, Alex Gooch, and The Bertinet Bakery. This, Waitrose says, helps to bridge the gap between local craft baking and supermarket convenience.

When it comes to visual merchandising, Waitrose ‘rejects the clinical look of traditional supermarket aisle’, instead opting for ‘bold, overflow-style displays, rustic presentation textures, and storytelling signage that dial up our foodie credentials at the point of purchase’.

This was evident to the judges, with one noting the use of phrases such as ‘bring on the treats’ and ‘a little pick me up’ on the ISB packaging, as well as the information provided at shelf about the firm’s farming practices and work with the Leckford Estate.

Innovation comes in the form of new products but also improvements to existing lines to make them more enticing for consumers. For example, the Waitrose No.1 sourdough lines were refreshed and increased from 500g loaves to 700g loaves which has resulted in ‘significant’ value and volume growth. The rotating cookie flavours were also highlighted, particularly the Cereal Milk variant as well as Raspberry Bakewell and Chocolate, Fudge & Pecan.