Production to be increased by up to 250% for Brown & Blond, thanks to plans to break through the £350,000 turnover barrier with a move to new premises. 

George Welton, founder of Ripon-based artisan bakery Brown & Blond, which specialises in chocolate brownies, is relocating from Ripon to Wortley Business Park in Leeds. The new site will cover 1,100sq ft, double the size of his current premises.

Welton set up his microbakery business at his parents’ smallholding in 2010 when he was 18 years old. At the time, he was working as a chef in a small cafe in Harrogate, but soon realised that his brownies were proving increasingly popular with customers.

Welton now bakes 12,000 brownies a week, with 50 different flavours on offer, ranging from raspberry and white chocolate to praline and chilli. Speaking to British Baker, Welton revealed that he also does a chilli ginger version with “really hot naga chillies” in it. “One of our most popular is probably the raspberry  and chocolate and that is our charity brownie for this year. All of the profits from sales of that brownie at selected shows go to the Candlelighters  children’s charity,” he added.

He attends many regional shows and events in the north of England and has built up a loyal local following. However, recent growth has come from the wholesale side of his business, which now accounts for 60% of turnover. Welton said: “In the past 18 months it has really taken off and we’ve got a big push towards Christmas this year.

“This [the move] will enable us to increase production and hopefully lead to us finding a distributor, who can supply our brownies nationwide, whilst retaining our reputation for high-quality baking.”