Outside a rebranded Birds Bakery store in Burton-upon-Trent

Source: Birds Bakery

Birds Bakery’s new-look store in Burton-upon-Trent

East Midlands-based Birds Bakery has extended its opening hours to include Sunday.

The business will now open 41 of its 61 stores from 9am to 3pm on the day as part of its ongoing commitment to providing greater convenience for customers. This, Birds added, has led to the creation of over 70 additional jobs across its stores, production site, and dispatch operations.

“We’re thrilled to be opening our bakery doors on Sundays to provide our customers with even more opportunities to enjoy our products,” said Jamie Bird, director of strategy at Birds.

“With more shops extending their trading hours to include Sundays, we wanted to ensure our customers can shop with us if they are out and about. Our hope is that by being open every day of the week, we can contribute to making the high street a vibrant and bustling place once again.”

In addition to the new schedule, Birds Bakery has also introduced a new lunch range. Among the highlights are a vegetarian lemon & herb hummus with a crunchy slaw multiseed baton, a continental-style salami & Emmental multiseed baton (£3.95), a Red Leicester & caramelised onion chutney sandwich (£3.25), and a hummus & falafel salad bowl. A Belgian chocolate brownie with sweet honeycomb pieces and a drizzle of golden chocolate (£1.95) has been added to the menu too.

The changes come as family-run Birds Bakery is undergoing a brand revamp to showcase “both tradition and innovation”. Several stores have been transitioned to the new branding which features a ‘vibrant spring green’ with store interiors embracing warm woods and grey tones to create a cosy environment for customers. The rebrand will gradually be rolled out to all of Birds’ stores across Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, and Staffordshire.

Investment by the firm in the rebrand and food-to-go, which included a deal with 200 Degrees Coffee to mean all coffee served is provided by the Nottingham-based roaster, is paying off as it posted a 15.1% rise in revenue for 2023. However, profits fell from £2.4m to £1.5m due to rising costs, some of which the bakery absorbed to avoid passing on to customers.