Jones Village Bakery is expecting to more than triple its overseas sales this year following a major investment drive.
The business clocked up £1.5m in exports last year but expects to increase this figure to £5m in 2023 as demand for its products grows.
The Wrexham-based bakery already supplies 200 Marks & Spencer stores around the world with crumpets, scones, pancakes, bagels, rolls, Welsh Cakes and pikelets.
“We send products to anywhere in the world where there is an M&S franchise, including Hong Kong, Singapore, the Middle East and India as well as the stores in Europe,” said Jones Village Bakery managing director Robin Jones.
The company has had a similar arrangement with Waitrose stores in the Middle East for more than three years.
“Strategically, we have taken the decision to grow the export market and we have just taken on a senior national account manager who is fluent in French and German,” added Jones. “Her role will include actively pursuing those markets with pancakes, crumpets and other bakery products.”
The business this year installed a £2m pancake production line that is thought to be one of the biggest in the world. It can produce up to 75 million pancakes a year and make a range of different pancakes, from a small Scotch pancake to a large American style buttermilk pancake measuring seven inches across.
This has enabled the business to cater for surging demand in the UK and from Europe, particularly France, Belgium and Holland.
The company has also landed a contract to supply bakery products to a large German retailer.
“We are continuing to grow and we are getting more and more enquiries so that is creating real momentum in terms of exports alongside our continued growth with our UK customers,” added Jones.
“Innovation is at the heart of our expansion both in the UK and abroad because our brilliant new product development team are driving the growing appetite for our products.”
Jones Village Bakery employs 800 people at its sites in Minera on the outskirts of Wrexham and at its 140,000 sq ft bakery on Wrexham Industrial Estate, which opened two years ago following a devastating fire in 2019.
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