As 2024 draws to a close, I wanted to reflect on the past year. As part of our Bakery in Review series, we’re exploring the big investments, top NPD, acquisitions, and appointments, but I also wanted to offer something a bit more personal – a few of my highlights from the past 12 months.
This week I celebrated 10 years of employment at William Reed, starting out at The Grocer before moving to British Baker where I have spent the past seven years. As every year passes, I remain in awe of this incredible industry that I have been tasked with reporting on, analysing, and serving up a spot of inspiration to. I feel privileged to have been appointed caretaker of this heritage brand and hope my appreciation of this comes through from our events and in our coverage.
With this in mind, I wanted to cast my eyes back over 2024 and share a few of my favourite moments:
- Attending a doughnut workshop at Bread Ahead with my bakery wing-woman Sophie Sutton. I love Bread Ahead doughnuts – from the crisp outside covered in sugar to the obscene amount of filling – so I jumped at the chance to try my hand at making them. It’s fair to say my efforts were not up to the same standards as the professionals but were still delicious.
- Touring craft bakeries for the Craft Bakery of the Year category at the Baking Industry Awards. Going on a two-week road trip with a person you’ve only met on Teams feels slightly intimidating, but needless to say David Mizon and myself got on swimmingly and had a blast visiting bakeries up and down Britain. We left well fed and with food for thought as we deliberated the innovation, excellence, and passion that we had seen in action.
- Causing a stir at the Baking Industry Awards with mention of my tattoo which features not one, but two types of biscuits. It definitely proved to be a conversation starter (at the awards and in general) which has brought me so much joy. This isn’t to overshadow the awards and the sheer amount of effort that went into them – it was a fabulous night and the feedback we have had since has made it all worth it.
- Visiting the Higgidy and Ginsters factories. It’s always exciting to get a behind the scenes look at any business, but even more so if you’re a fan of them. I’m an avid consumer of Higgidy and have very fond memories of eating Ginsters slices in my uni days, so seeing the products brought to life was delightful.
- Eating all of the bread and cake at Britain’s Best Loaf and Britain’s Best Cake competitions. These are the types of days that makes everyone I know jealous (they also make it much harder for me to convince my friends that I have a ‘real job’). What brought me so much joy, besides sampling so many delicious baked goods, was the sheer number of entries we had for both competitions and the looks on the winners’ faces when they found out they won. Tom Martin, who produced Britain’s Best Loaf 2024, is a fantastic example of someone who has taken the accolade and run with it to secure not only success for 4 Eyes Bakery but also for himself, receiving 26 job offers and finally accepting one at The Bread Factory.
- Publishing the Top Bakery Trends 2025 report. This was an absolute mammoth project and one that came straight after the Baking Industry Awards and UPF webinar, so it was a full-on couple of months. The sheer number of pageviews and positive feedback it has had in the few weeks since it was published mean all the hard work was worth it.
- Eating English muffins at Puratos’ Taste Tomorrow event. I’ve seen innovation across the bakery spectrum but rarely, if at all, has it been in the form of an English muffin. A white miso, sesame seed, & apple and rye & oat variants were created as part of a demonstration on how to use existing ingredients in new ways and tap into trends. They did the job, and Sophie and I have been thinking about them ever since!
- Sniffing a fresh ciabattin off the line at Geary’s Bakeries and getting a sneak preview of the recently launched toasties. Like the aforementioned visits, I love peeking behind the curtain, and it was great to capture the business before it embarked on its next adventure meaning I’ll be able to appreciate the ‘before and after’ next time I visit.
- Throwing myself into roller derby with Brighton Rockers. Not at all work-related, but most people I’ve met this year have probably heard me go on about the ‘full contact sport on roller skates’ that I play (particularly as I explain why I’m covered in bruises). It has given me a community outside of my day job and a way to burn off all of the calories I am consuming.
Of course this isn’t a definitive list. We’d be here forever if I mentioned every single delectable doughnut and fabulous focaccia I’ve devoured this year. It also negates to mention many of the wonderful people I have encountered on my quest for bakery knowledge, many of whom have left me feeling inspired and a couple who brought a tear to my eye. I can’t wait to do it all again in 2025.
As always, please do reach out if you’d like to share some news or feedback with myself and the team – we’re always looking for new ideas and to improve our coverage. My diary is also open for invitations to doughnut factories, craft bakeries, major manufacturing sites, and more.
For now, have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!
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