The Bread Factory and Gail’s artisan bakery annual revenues are up by 41.5%, suggesting that UK consumers’ hunger for artisan bread shows no signs of dying out.

Entrepreneur Luke Johnson, who backs parent firm Bread Holdings Ltd, saw total sales grow from £45m last year to £63.8m in the year to 29 February 2016 after stellar growth in both its retail and wholesale businesses.

Retail sales were up 23.6% to £23.9m, while wholesale revenues climbed 59.2% to £46.7m during the year, partly driven by acquisitions.

The accounts stated: “The wholesale market is very competitive, and growth can only be achieved by continuing to offer existing customers the highest levels of service and quality at reasonable prices, while attracting new customers with unparalleled quality of ingredients and products.”

Gail’s saw top-line growth of 32% in the year and The Bread Factory’s sales were up 16%. Pre-tax profits were up 70% to £4.8m and operating profits rose 42% to £6.5m.

The accounts also stated: “The expectation is that the group will continue to maintain and grow wholesale sales from both new and existing customer accounts, while Gail’s will continue to see like-for-like growth through its existing shop portfolio supported by new shop openings.”

Staff costs during the year rose 36.5% to £24m as average headcount swelled from 872 to 1,240 during the period.

Earlier this year Gail’s bakery opened its first out-of-London outlet in Oxford.