A bakery in Cumbria has doubled the size of its workforce and has its sights set on national growth, thanks partly to investment from a Regional Growth Fund supplied by the Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

Penrith-based TrayBakes, which makes products by hand in small batches,  has recently secured new orders with major distributors including Amazon and North South Retail. Thanks to the funding received from Cumbria LEP, the business has been able to invest in a new chocolate tempering machine, new sets of cutting blocks and blades and a new integrated business system, as well as a complete rebrand.

The company makes a wide variety of traybakes, which are sold to wholesale customers and retailers. Products include Caramel Shortcake with Belgian Milk Chocolate, Honeycomb Crunch, Rocky Road, a variety of flapjacks, all butter shortbread and Bakewell slices.

Traybakes managing director Justine Carruthers told online newspaper Cumbria Crack: “Everything we make is prepared fresh to order and we simply wouldn’t have been able to meet this rising demand if it hadn’t been for the additional ingredient of funding via Cumbria LEP.”

Traybakes will also be supplying The Championships at Wimbledon this year, or as one fan put it, "move over strawberries and cream."

The company employs 20 staff at its 8,000sq ft site in the Food Technology Centre at Redhills Business Park in Penrith.

Cumbria LEP is a private/public partnership, led by the private sector. Its funding comes from various channels, including Defra and the EU’s LEADER project.