Garth Bakery has agreed to supply 35 Tesco stores in South Wales with nine of its bakery lines as part of a new contract.

The wholesale and craft bakery in Abercynon, Rhondda Cynon Taff, has signed its first deal with the supermarket last week and will produce and supply Chelsea buns and teacakes, as well as seven bread roll lines.

Alan James, director at Garth Bakery, told British Baker: “Tesco is one of the premier supermarkets in the UK and it will help to raise our profile as a small bakery. As a result of the new contract, we have invested in some equipment including a new double deck oven, as well as creating two new jobs on the production side of the business.

“We are hoping Tesco will take between 4,000 and 5,000 packets of our products per week. It’s early days yet, but if we can increase the product range with the company in the future we will.”

James added that, over the past five to six years, Garth Bakery has managed to increase overall sales by up to 2% year-on-year.

Garth Bakery currently supplies its Welsh cakes line to Asda stores in the region, as well as its full range of crusty bread, confectionery and morning goods to The Co-operative Food supermarkets. The firm’s primary customers include schools, as well as supplying retail and wholesale markets.