Electric bike and scooter hire firm Lime is creating the UK’s first ride-thru bakery for an event in London this weekend.
Said to be embracing the capital’s booming bakery culture, the ‘Lime-thru Bakery’ will be in operation at Protein Studios Shoreditch from 6 to 8 September.
Featuring a service hatch designed specifically for cyclists, the temporary outlet will treat registed users of the app to a complimentary lime-flavoured pastry supplied by Pophams bakery. The limited-edition creation comprises a flaky puff pastry exterior filled with ‘tongue-tingling’ lime curd, sweet white chocolate crémeux, and moist coconut sponge, topped with a swirl of Italian meringue and a sprinkle of matcha powder.
Pastries will be provided on a first-come-first-served basis, while stocks last. Lime riders will also be able to enjoy a free artisan brew from Notions Coffee and can park their bike and take a seat at the custom-built coffee bar or at one of the sofas or armchairs inside the shop. Exclusive artwork by observational meme artist The Real Housewives of Clapton will also be on display.
There are currently no plans to open the Lime-thru Bakery again at a later date or another location, confirmed the company.
Lime said it was ‘clear that bakeries are having a moment’, with a recent survey from Opinium Research LLP finding that nearly a third (30%) of respondents claimed to visit a bakery at least once every weekend compared to roughly a fifth saying they went out for brunch instead.
The research conducted last month among a nationally representative sample group of 2,000 UK adults living in London also had over half (52%) of respondents saying they would queue for up to 20 minutes to get a taste of the capital’s latest trending pastry. Lime noted that this was highlighted by the endless queues seen outside the city’s hottest bakeries.
Cycling was said to have taken the city by storm too, with an estimated 1.26 million journeys now cycled daily (and counting), according to 2023 data from Transport for London. One quarter (25%) of Londoners surveyed by Opinium claimed to now hop on two wheels to visit a trending bakery by bike on the weekends.
According to its website, Lime also offers bike or scooter hire services in other UK locations including Manchester, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, and Derby. It has its global headquarters in San Francisco with operations in more than 280 cities spanning five continents.
Meanwhile, Pophams was founded by Ollie Gold in 2017 and has expanded from its original Islington shop to open two more sites in Hackney – one next to London Fields and the other near Victoria Park.
While a ride-thru may just be a fun marketing concept, companies are continuing to open new drive-thru bakeries including Caffè Nero launching its first one at Stanstead Airport earlier this year, and Stephens Bakery unveiling its third site last December. Greggs has also gone on record to say that drive-thrus remained part of its growth strategy focussed in the travel sector.
However, despite admitting drive-thrus presented a “big opportunity” for growth, Gail’s Bakery MD Marta Pogroszewska confirmed with British Baker in April that the chain has no specific plans to explore the business model.
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