Fearless leader, avid weightlifter, Yorkshire lass, and mother – these are just some of the descriptors which fit Rebecca Phillips, general factory manager at Fox’s Burton’s Companies’ (FBC) Llantarnam bakery.
While women make up around a third of the manufacturing workforce across the globe, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2025, less than a quarter of the industry’s senior roles are held by women. Encouragingly, there has been an 8-9% improvement in women’s representation in manufacturing management between 2015 and 2024, but there’s still a way to go.
With 30 years in the male-dominated food manufacturing environment under her belt, Phillips knows a thing or two about trailblazing.
Having joined the company in 2023, she oversees the 700-plus workforce at the south Wales site which produces more than 274m Jammie Dodgers annually alongside other iconic products including Wagon Wheels and Mini Maryland Cookies. A total of 4.4bn biscuits pass through the factory every single year.
“Emotional intelligence is my superpower,” she tells British Baker ahead of International Women’s Day on 8 March. “I’m a very empathetic and compassionate leader. I adopt a servant leadership style so I’m there to serve and support, I like to get people on board and empower them to drive change.”
She’s no pushover though. “I’m not a soft touch by any stretch of the imagination,” she asserts.
Indeed, she has had to show resilience throughout her career. Phillips has been in the food industry her entire working life, with stints in red meat, pies, bakery, and ice cream. As a food nutrition graduate, she started as a graduate trainee for a red meat firm before very quickly being promoted to quality manager. But as time passed, she grew a desire to take on more of a challenge.
“Basically, I got a little bored,” she laughs. “I’m very results driven and saw what was around me and knew I wanted to run the factory. Back then, to see females in those types of roles in manufacturing was quite unusual.”
“I was told I would struggle to become a factory general manager because of my gender”
The ambition required a step change, moving from quality to operations, meaning it was back to the Saturday night shifts. “It was tough,” Phillips says. She also had to lean on her colleagues, such as operations managers and shift managers, for their technical know-how but this led to a revelation.
“That was the point in my career when I realised how important my leadership skills were,” Phillips explains, “and how important it was to engage with the team around me (who were the technical experts) and use that softer emotional intelligence to really get them on board, build respect, and allow me to succeed in that in that environment.”
While Phillips had experienced a revelation, not everyone around her recognised her skillset.
“I was told in my late 20s that I would struggle to become a factory general manager because of my gender,” she shares. This wasn’t the last of the gender bias she faced either: “I was promoted in a role and one of the leadership team decided that they wanted to leave because they didn’t want to work for a woman. That’s shocking… but all that did was just drive me to do more.”
Indeed, it did. She became a factory manager in her early 30s, taking on more responsibility and challenges with new firms before moving to FBC a few years ago.
“I don’t think you can lead factories well if you don’t understand your operation or your people”
Rallying a 700-plus workforce, nearly half of whom have been at the Llantarnam factory for more than 10 years, is no easy feat. But Phillips swiftly found her footing.
As a 24-hour, six days a week operation, Phillips is on site around 6:30am to make sure everything is in order. “It’s straight up to the office, drop the handbag off, factory shoes on, hair net on, and down to the plant,” she explains. “I spend a lot of time in the factory. It’s super important – I don’t think you can lead factories well if you don’t understand your operation or your people.”
Phillips believes her visibility, approachability, and authenticity – and that of her leadership team – are part of the reason why the site has delivered “some really good results”.
It’s one of seven production sites in the FBC UK portfolio (the others are in Batley, Blackpool, Edinburgh, Kirkham, Livingston, and Uttoxeter) which contribute to the firm’s performance. The latest FBC UK accounts, published last month, reported consolidated revenues of £695m for the year ending 31 August 2025 representing a 9% increase on the year prior. Additionally, continued growth in both branded and own label biscuits saw operating profit rise from £11.5m to £31.2m.
“Food manufacturing always is a challenging environment,” she notes, “but I love the fast past, the challenge, and delivering results. FBC UK is a great business and Llantarnam is a fantastic factory.”
So, what advice does Phillips have for the industry’s potential female leaders hoping to shift the balance in their favour in the future?
“Be confident, be resilient, and never underestimate your strengths,” she declares. “Young women may still face bias even in this day and age, but don’t let that define you. Lean into your emotional intelligence, empathy and compassion – the ability to connect people is super powerful.”
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