Record overseas sales are fuelling growth at a bakery where 50 new jobs are up for grabs after landing new contracts in the Middle East and Australia.<\/p>\n
Exports are set to break through the \u00a310 million barrier this year at the fast-growing Jones Village Bakery in Wrexham.<\/p>\n
Among its recent successes is clinching two deals to supply gluten-free products to seven Gulf States in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year the company started shipping products to Australia\u00a0 where the company\u2019s pancakes have proved a big hit and are now being sold and served up right across the vast country.<\/p>\n
At the same time the bakery is also experiencing surging demand from Europe, particularly in France, Germany, Belgium and Holland.<\/p>\n
All of this is on top of supplying a worldwide network of around 200 M&S stores \u2013 as far afield as Hong Kong, Singapore and the Middle East – with crumpets, scones, pancakes, bagels, rolls, Welsh Cakes and pikelets.<\/p>\n
The company\u2019s growing success with overseas sales has been recognised by the Welsh Government who have named the Village Bakery as an official Welsh Export Champion.<\/p>\n
Commercial Director Lesley Arnot said: \u201cOur exports are doing really well for us and we are going from strength to strength in all the different countries that we\u2019re dealing with and we\u2019re adding a few more on the order book.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re also enjoying success in the Middle East where we\u2019ve launched across several different countries with two different retailers out there.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m absolutely delighted with the way things are developing \u2013 and there\u2019s much more to come as well. We have some really good foundations for expansion into other export markets.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is huge potential for further growth and we are getting good support from the UK Government\u2019s Department of Business and Trade and the Welsh Government to help us get established in different countries so it\u2019s really exciting times.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a sentiment echoed by the Village Bakery\u2019s Commercial Controller, New Zealander Glen Marriott, who played a key role in securing the Australia contract.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThe distributor was looking for a new supplier and Googled people who make pancakes and we popped up because we had just invested \u00a32 million in a new pancake production line.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey liked our values and how we promote from within, the quality of the products and the facilities and that prompted a phone call from their managing director and it went from there.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have launched two ranges , a food service range and a retail range. They\u2019ve had a really excellent response. They started out in Western Australia and the only state where they\u2019re not available is Tasmania \u2013 so we\u2019ve got mainland Australia completely covered.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of the Free Trade Agreement with Australia, the UK Government is very keen to promote companies that are doing trade in Australia and so they have been very supportive and they have opened quite a few doors for us in other markets as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re reaping the benefit of the trade agreement because it\u2019s reduced the barriers to getting product in, so we don\u2019t have any issues on that score. We\u2019ve not had any hold-ups with anything.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt also\u00a0 shows the value of the investment the Village Bakery made in the new pancake line. It was money well spent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senior National Account Manager Allison Winstanley is being kept busy looking after major UK and European retailers.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cI\u2019m fluent in German and I speak passable French so I also look after our European exports, managing our customer base in Germany and France.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very busy because there are lots of new opportunities that we\u2019re following up on, as well as developing the relationships with existing customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love working here because there\u2019s a very dynamic, fast paced environment. There are lots of new and exciting challenges here every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
CEO Robin Jones said: \u201cExports are really taking off and the team are doing an absolutely brilliant job, finding some great partners and distributors.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m delighted with what Lesley, Glen, Allison and the rest of the commercial team have done \u2013 because they are the ones who have landed these orders. They are all playing an absolute blinder.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur target of increasing overseas sales to \u00a310 million is very realistic with the way things are going in Australia, the Middle East and Europe. It\u2019s really exciting.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe make really, really good quintessential British products and there\u2019s clearly a growing appetite for them at home in the UK but also abroad<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s wonderful to think you can buy Village Bakery products in so many places across the world, whether that\u2019s Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore or across so much of mainland Europe.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is all creating extra volume here so it feeds into sustaining existing jobs and creating new ones which all adds up to boosting the local economy here in Wrexham.\u201d<\/p>\n