H1 sales up by 46% at Finsbury

Finsbury Food Group, the UK bakery group, has seen its total company sales increase by 46% to £156.6m in its first half.

Allied Bakeries reports increased sales in challenging times

Kingsmill owner Allied Bakeries achieved a substantial increase in sales volumes for the 16 weeks ending 2 January, “although pricing and margins remain challenging”.

Greggs’ trading update triggers share-price tumble

Greggs, the high street bakery chain, suffered a sharp drop in share price as it reported a slowdown in its like-for-like (LFL) sales growth.

Irwin’s ends year in the red, despite £29.6m turnover

Irwin’s bakery has reported a turnover of £29.m, but also a loss of £128,574 for the year ending 29 March 2015. 

Southern Co-op Christmas LFLs up 4.7%

Convenience store retailer The Southern Co-operative saw a like-for-like (LFL) sales increase of 4.7% across the three weeks to 3 January.

Sainsbury’s sales good despite LFL drop

Sainsbury’s suffered a 0.4% drop in like-for-like (LFL) retail sales, excluding fuel, for the 15 weeks to 9 January 2016 – despite trading well over Christmas.

Five things YOU can learn from Greggs today

British Baker highlights some of the key take-outs from the Greggs fourth-quarter update today. Where is the company heading and what will its full year results look like?

Discounters benefit at Christmas amid 0.2% drop in grocery sales

Continuing price deflation meant there was no Christmas uplift for the British grocery market as sales fell 0.2% on last year. But Waitrose, The Co-operative and Sainsbury’s successfully grew ahead of the market. 

Morrisons’ trading down but improving, 2015 LFLs up 0.2%

Supermarket chain Morrisons is “working to improve” as company like-for-like sales (LFLs) excluding fuel increased 0.2% in the nine weeks to 3 January.

Greggs trading in line with expectations, 2015 LFLs up 4.7%

Bakery chain Greggs said it expected its full-year results to be “in line” with previous expectations – after announcing company like-for-like sales (LFLs) increased by 4.7% in 2015.

M&S to add fibre to all bread

Marks & Spencer (M&S), the food and clothing chain, has announced it will become the first UK retailer to start adding fibre to its entire range of pre-packed bread and rolls.

Subway launches mobile advertising campaign

The Subway sandwich chain has launched a series of promotional activities as part of a bid to encourage traffic into stores in the first-quarter period.

Bakers report strong Christmas sales

Craft bakers have reported a strong Christmas trading period as it was revealed that sales of cake, pudding and confectionary surged by 8.3% in supermarkets.

Montana Bakery suffers profit drop

Montana Bakery, the artisan wholesale bakery, has reported a slump in operating profit from £1.3m to £1.2m for the 12 months to 28 March 2015.

Border Biscuits to add second production line

Border Biscuits, the Lanarkshire-based biscuit producer, is to build a second production line at its Lanark facility.

Greggs reportedly planning 12 NI stores in 2016

High street bakery Greggs will reportedly open at least 12 stores in Northern Ireland in 2016, and its first stand-alone shop in the country will open in Belfast in March.

West Cornwall Pasty Co suffers pre-tax loss

The UK’s largest pasty operator has announced an underlying profit of £551,000, despite having posted a pre-tax loss of £195,000.

Record seasonal trading days for Waitrose

Waitrose reported record trading days on 23 and 24 December, despite the challenging grocery market. 

Wrights Food Group doubles production capacity

Wrights Food Group has installed a £1.2m pie production line, which it says will double its pie production capacity.

Seasonal bakery sales up thanks to sweet-toothed shoppers

Christmas cake, pudding and confectionery sales were up 8.3% on 2014 as UK consumers spent £219m in the two weeks leading up to Christmas. 

Village Bakery bids to build £16m plant

Village Bakery, the Wrexham-based craft business, has applied for planning permission to build a new £16m plant.

Fox’s Biscuits sale speculation

Fox’s Biscuits, the UK’s fourth largest biscuit manufacturer, may be sold by owner Boparan Holdings, according to people close to the issue.

Pieminister returns to profitability

Pieminister, the luxury pie manufacturer and restaurant chain, has reported profits of £99,000 for the 12 months to 31 March 2015, reversing the previous year’s loss of £109,000.

Looking Forward: 2016 trends and threats

Review of the Year: Part 2

Sadly, 2015 could not all be about good news. It was a tough year for craft bakeries and even mighty brands like Hovis found themselves needing to cut costs. This was also the year the health debate around sugar erupted, with the full effect perhaps yet to be felt in 2016.

Review of the Year: Part 1

The past year has produced plenty to celebrate for our industry, with strong investment in production equipment, moves to propagate the next generation of bakers and, to cap it all, the best British wheat harvest on record. British Baker looks back over the top 10 successes of the year.

Baked goods sales to tumble 5% by 2020

UK sales of bread and baked goods are set to fall by 5.3% over the next five years, according to a report by market insight company Mintel, with market value dropping from £3.9bn to £3.7bn.

Cake sales fall in run up to Christmas

Christmas cake and pudding sales have slumped in the run up to Christmas, down 5.3% on last year for the two weeks to 12 December.

Destiny Foods to triple storage with new warehouse

Destiny Foods, the Manchester-based foodservice patisserie firm and distributer, has bought a 30,000sq ft warehouse which it says will triple its storage capacity.

Greggs opens 100th franchise store

Greggs, the high street bakery, recently passed 100 franchise stores as it opened another partnership with fuel station forecourt manager Euro Garages.

Starbucks UK’s profits leap forwards

Starbucks UK has seen year-on-year pre-tax profits jump £32.2 million to reach £34.2m in the year to 27 September.

Coffee shops forecast to reach £15bn in next 10 years

Britain’s love affair with coffee looks set to continue with the UK coffee shop market expected to be worth over £15bn by 2025, according to the latest report from Allegra World Coffee Portal.

Macphie doubles profit in bullish year

Macphie, the Scottish-based bakery and food ingredients manufacturer, has seen profits and sales increase off the back of weaker dairy prices.

2 Sisters sees quarterly drop in sales and profits

Boparan Holdings – the owner of 2 Sisters Food Group, which runs Holland’s Pies and Fox’s Biscuits, saw sales slump by 3.5% to £778.3m in the three months to 31 October.

Recruitment firm urges flexibility ahead of Living Wage

The founder of a Glasgow-based recruitment agency for the food and drink and hospitality industries has warned that businesses need to adopt a “flexible labour mode” ahead of the National Living Wage (NLW).

Sainsbury’s bucks Big Four downward trend

Sainsbury’s was the only Big Four supermarket to show growth for the 12 weeks to 6 December 2015, up 1.2% to achieve a market share of 16.7%.

London bakery goes cashless

Sweet Things will be the first London eatery not to accept cash payments when it opens in Notting Hill on 4 January.

Double-digit revenue growth for The Bread Factory

The Bread Factory has reported another year of double-digit growth, with revenue up 25% from £36.1m to £45.1m.

Kingsmill loaves back on Tesco shelves

Tesco has relisted several of Kingsmill’s core branded bread loaves, nine months after they were cut as part of supermarket’s ‘Project Reset’ simplification of its SKUs.

Australia franchise café firm reveals UK expansion plans

Jamaica Blue plans to open four new cafés in ‘affluent’ areas of the UK in 2016.

RGF buys sports supplements brand

Real Good Food (RGF), the food ingredients and bakery supplier, has bought ISO2 Nutrition, the sports supplements brand, for a nominal amount.

Warburtons finalises five-year wheat contracts

Warburtons, the bakery giant, has today announced the finalising of new wheat-growing contracts with more than 300 British farmers.

Costa Coffee reports Q3 sales growth

Costa Coffee, the Whitbread-owned café chain, has posted UK like-for-like (LFL) sales growth of 2.5% for the 13 weeks to 26 November 2015.

Costa launches Fresco

Costa Coffee has launched a new concept which focuses on food-to-go sales.

Whitbread announces new non-executive director

Whitbread, the group that owns Costa Coffee and Premier Inn, has appointed Chris Kennedy as a non-executive director.

FDF president pledges to treble apprenticeships

Fiona Kendrick has announced a pledge to treble apprenticeships in the food and drink industry and grow value-added exports a third by 2020.

Independent bakers missing out on Bake Off opportunity

High street bakery outlets are failing to cash in on a surge in consumption of sweet-tasting bakery and dessert products, in a trend driven by The Great British Bake Off.

Brains gains £85m to expand Coffee#1 chain

Drinks and hospitality firm Brains has been given an £85m funding packing to help accelerate the roll-out of its coffee chain business Coffee#1.

Edme appoints new sales director

The malted ingredients producer Edme has announced that Michael Carr is to be its new sales director. 

Caffè Nero acquires London sites

Caffè Nero, the high-street coffee chain, has acquired three London sites from struggling café business Harris + Hoole.