Dorringtons Bakers and Confectioners has said it is looking to grow its exports business, with plans to move into Ireland this year.

It comes as the Sawbridgeworth-based craft bakery business, which featured in the recent Channel 4 series Heston’s Fantastical Christmas, hosted by Heston Blumenthal, has seen success from supplying a range of baked goods to the export market.

Sophie Sharples, development manager at Dorringtons, revealed exclusively to British Baker: “We are currently exporting to Hagen Grote, which is a catalogue business operating throughout France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. We do most of our work with them around Christmas time for their winter catalogue, because they have ordered cakes that they have specifically asked us to design for them.

“We have just had our second year with them and doubled our orders as a result this year and, from that, we are looking at export opportunities, particularly in Ireland, as well as other European countries.”

She added the export market is showing promise for the company and Dorringtons would like to follow it through in the future.

The increase in business from exports comes at the same time that Dorringtons has decided to invest in its online offering, after launching a new website back in November, which will play host to a more gift-focused range of bakery goods, including hampers.

Sharples said: “We wanted to try and keep up with the times and keep moving with the website, making things fresh and interesting for our customers, as well as appealing to new customers across the UK.”

The bakery is launching a new cake subscriptions service next month, allowing people to redeem either a three- or six-month voucher in which a range of cakes, traybakes and shortbreads will be delivered to their home.

Dorringtons operates a 15-store estate of retail bakeries across the Cambridgeshire region, with its latest opening in Sawston on Tuesday (15 January) after relocating from an existing site in Rose Crescent in the centre of Cambridge.

With regards to new store openings this year, Sharples explained: “We are definitely always on the look-out. It just depends if the perfect opportunity comes up, with nothing secured yet, but we are keeping an eye out.”

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