Day four on the BIA treat calendar comes from The Craft Business Award winner, Bettys Craft Bakery, which spills all about its new £1m research and development centre. 

Paul Gray, bakehouse manager, spoke to British Baker about the big investment and the importance of teaching vital skills to keep the craft industry going.

Gray said: “Creativity and innovation are vital to Betty’s future success. With that in mind, we have developed a new research and development facility to allow space for all the creative brains behind Bettys to come together in one location to test, experiment, develop products and train.”

Training

The new £1m centre has been set up as part of the Bettys bakery in Harrogate- and features a development bakery plus a development kitchen for its branch training and catering. Gray continued: “Previously we had to do branch training at an onsite location out of hours, but now we are able to deliver it with all our development people together in one area at a convenient time. There is a meeting area and library in there too.

“It’s the same with the bakery development area. Before, when we wanted to bake and trial products, we had to wait until we were done baking for the day. Now, we have equipped the space with a single rack oven, a two-deck oven, a mixer and a chilling unit, so we can do much more robust trialling within the centre before it is put out into production.

“Craft at Bettys is all about attention to detail, the skills we have honed and worked on for generations and the passing on of knowledge. It’s about ensuring these craft skills and knowledge are weaved into the generations of the future. 

Topics