In this series, British Baker talks to people from across the baking industry to find out about their career path, what their job involves, and the latest trends that are shaping their work.
We’re looking to showcase a diverse range of talent and job types across the industry, so if you’d like to be involved, please email dan.riley@wrbm.com.
Name: Katrina Bozikovic
Age: 31
Job Title: Founder / co-owner
Company/Location: Outpost artisan bakery in Eccleston, Lancashire
Education: Pastry techniques diploma, Le Cordon Bleu
Tell us about your career so far:
I moved to London in 2014 to study pastry at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school at a time when back home in Fremantle, Western Australia, there weren’t really any aspirational pastry sections in restaurants. After graduating, I was fortunate to begin working with Marcus Wareing, progressing to his then two-Michelin-starred restaurant, Marcus.
Bread and bakery had always been a passion of mine, but I hadn’t gained much hands-on bread experience in the pastry sections where I worked. It became clear that if I wanted to truly master it, I needed to immerse myself fully in the craft. I found that opportunity at The Snapery in east London, working alongside the incredibly talented self-taught baker Richard Snape.
Stints at the much-lauded Trinity and Moor Hall followed, further shaping my skills and philosophy. But it was perhaps inevitable that I would one day open a place of my own. That place is Outpost in Eccleston, which I opened with my husband in mid-March 2025, with just the two of us on the team at that point.
How would you describe your job in a sentence or two?
Leader, baker, motivator.
As the owner of a new business, the fun never really stops. When you’re not baking, you’re cleaning. When you’re not cleaning, there’s paperwork, compliance, and accounting to deal with. It’s been a massive learning curve.
Above all, the most important part of the job is the constant striving for excellence. We haven’t put everything on the line for mediocrity.
What does a typical day look like for you?
We have a two-year-old and a five-month-old, as well as the bakery, which was a year old in March. My day starts at 3:30am, baking until 2:30pm, before delivering bread to our wholesale partners on the way home.
Family is incredibly important to us and a big reason we chose to go our own way. We always make sure we eat together between 5pm and 7pm – and we’re all in bed by 8pm!
Tell us about a challenge you’ve faced recently:
Apart from everything mentioned above, the joy of using locally sourced ingredients is also a challenge.
We work with some amazing local producers; Rowland’s Dairy is in the next village and we use beautiful wholegrain flours from Brow Farm. Natural variations, grains from different fields, and subtle changes in milk fat content mean no two weeks are ever the same.
Understanding and adapting to these differences while maintaining a consistently excellent product for our customers is demanding. But it’s exactly why we choose to use these ingredients. It would certainly be easier to use off-the-shelf products, just not better.
What have been some highlights of your career?
Just a few months after opening, we were named one of the best bakeries in the county by Lancashire Life Magazine and later featured across four pages of their Christmas issue.
But nothing compares to the feeling of opening the doors for the first time – putting everything on the line, nowhere to hide, and simply hoping people don’t hate what you’ve created.
Now, a year in, we couldn’t be happier with how it’s gone.
What’s a common misconception about your role?
That bakers have to work through the night! There are certainly early starts and we’re a small team, but we’ve worked hard to stay organised and efficient so that it remains a great place to work.
What advice would you give to young people entering the baking industry?
Operating a bakery is a team effort. Get stuck in, ask questions, push each other and support each other. The more you put in, the more you’ll get out of it!
Interested in a career in bakery? Check out Foodmanjobs for the latest vacancies
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