Growth, investment, and optimisation – they’re the three pillars that sweet bakery manufacturer Baker & Baker is resting its ambitious growth plans on, according to CEO Matthew Acheson.
Acheson took up the position at the start of 2025, having served as CFO of Baker & Baker and the former CSM Bakery Solutions business since 2017.
He has been charged with creating and delivering a roadmap which will see Baker & Baker achieve revenue north of €800m within the next five-year period. That’s no small feat and represents a 28% increase on where it is currently. The business, which has operations across Europe, saw sales reach €623.5m (£539.3m) in 2024 with the UK division accounting for just under half of this at £251.3m. Profits were robust with the UK marking a gross profit of £31m – an 8.7% increase on the year before.
While Acheson is confident in the manufacturer’s ability to achieve the proposed target, particularly off the back of the impressive performance last year, he is conscious of the “turbulent external events” which continually affect the market and its operators.
Inflation has been the main challenge over the past year, with Acheson admitting “we wouldn’t have necessarily expected that to still be the case in 2025”, also referencing the increase in National Insurance contributions and the hikes seen in cocoa prices which have “held back growth”.
All of these are linked to the other main challenge - the “macroeconomic uncertainty” which is impacting consumers and influencing their spending habits.
Nevertheless, there are opportunities to be had, and Baker & Baker is keen to grab them as Acheson anticipates a “more stable external environment” going into 2026. “We see a lot of potential within the business, both to grow and to be more efficient,” he adds.
That pretty much sums up the two key themes to its growth plans – capturing market growth and optimising the cost base and operations. As the business is in the early stages of planning for some of the projects for this, the CEO is understandably keen to keep much of the detail close to his chest although notes that “we’re talking about exciting multi-million-pound investments”.
Efficiency and sustainability will be a priority for the investments, with solar panels added to the site in Portugal and some “behind the scenes” work on energy usage taking place at the Wirral factory. An investment into how palm oil is managed, and as a result reduced, at the firm’s location in Germany (it’s second biggest site after the Wirral) also represents a “significant” recent capex project. Carbon modelling is also on the agenda, and Baker & Baker recently heralded a significant milestone on its emissions reduction journey having gained approval from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).
The business operates 12 production sites across the UK and Europe, with Wirral and Bradford in the UK and Delmenhorst in Germany and Aartselaar in Belgium the biggest four in the group. The rest of the portfolio is mixed. Wirral, previously a margarine factory, contributes an impressive chunk of the volume producing muffins, doughnuts, and cookies, while some of the others are single line sites.
The spread of sites and capabilities will help Baker & Baker take advantage of the opportunities in Europe which has “plenty of headroom for growth” with the foodservice and retail channels “leading the pack”. It also means the firm can share expertise and replicate relevant projects across sites.
Capturing market growth
When it comes to capturing market growth, the focus will be on building up channels and categories, growing its licensing partnerships, and targeted investments in new product capabilities and capacity. Examples of what this has looked like in the previous years includes a £2.9m investment in a cookie line at its Wirral site and upgrading the chocolate handling capability of the Bradford site.
The latter contributed to one of Baker & Baker’s most successful launches over the past year – Milka Mini Bites. The three-strong range includes mini brownies, mini crispies, and mini cookies featuring Milka chocolate which are made Bradford and distributed on the continent.
It’s a format that has exploded in the UK’s snacking and bakery categories, particularly in own label retail, but there are definitely opportunities up for grabs with mini bites in Europe.
“American sweet bakery as a category should be front of the pack in terms of growth”
“Mini bites are a well-known product format in the UK but less so on the continent,” Acheson explains, adding that those types of products have “lots of growth potential”. There are several reasons for this, one is the increased appetite for portion controlled and sharing products.
What this means is there is a wealth of opportunity, with inspiration in the form of products, formats, or flavours likely already nestled within the portfolio.
“American sweet bakery as a category should be front of the pack in terms of growth,” he says. “You’ve always got customer requirements and local requirements, but doughnuts, muffins, cookies and even mini bites do travel well across geographies.”
Licensing partnerships have and will also continue to reap rewards. “In terms of pure market impact, the Mini Eggs Cookie in the UK has been a very successful product,” Acheson adds. Originally launched in 2024 as part of Baker & Baker’s partnership with Mondelēz and then brought back for the 2025 Easter season, Acheson says “there’s a lot of potential still” for the product.
Another partnership with growth potential on the horizon is chocolate alternative ChoViva. Delivering a ‘chocolatey taste experience’, ChoViva is made from sunflower seeds, sustainable plant-based fats, sugar, and milk powder (or sunflower seed flour for its vegan-friendly version). Baker & Baker has partnered with the brand on a doughnut launch in Germany, with Acheson hopeful that it’ll take off, noting that “it’ll start small but it’s exciting”.
There’s a similar ethos with laminated products, particularly regional ones, in the Baker & Baker portfolio. “Although we talk a lot about American sweet bakery, laminated is a big part of the portfolio on the continent,” Acheson shares, pointing to Franzbrötchen in Germany, the pastel de nata in Portugal, and the Palmier in Spain.
While traditional products are capturing new audiences further afield, Acheson is also aware that Baker & Baker needs to keep on top of trends. “Some trends you see coming, but other you’ve got to be agile, particularly with social media” he says, noting that “nobody saw Dubai chocolate coming.”
“We’re big enough to be very professional and have good processes, but we’re also small enough to be agile”
Premiumisation is likely to continue as people want “nice indulgent products” but perhaps slightly less often as it competes with the need for healthier products. To this end, there’s a lot going on “behind the scenes in terms of sugar reduction” with portion size also playing a part.
There’s plenty for Baker & Baker to sink its teeth into as it marches towards the €800m mark, with a confident leader with a “strong, stable” team behind him, the business is in good stead.
“We’re big enough to be very professional and have good processes, but we’re also small enough to be agile,” he concludes. “We’re in a growing market, in a sweet spot (pardon the pun) with our product categories. We see a lot of headroom for growth, particularly on the continent, and we see ourselves pivoting into the right channels.”
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