With 17 years in the bakery trade, it’s no surprise to see Ginger Bakers at the awards table. The brainchild of Lisa Smith, her passion for production and design eventually found its way to cakes.
“I set up the business from my home kitchen, having been an art therapist previously. Bakery gives so much pleasure – yes, it’s hard work, but the customer side is great.”
Growing year-on-year to 10 staff , the Cumbrian operation off ers almondies, traybakes, fruit cakes and more. It’s also received national recognition, taking out the Gifting category at the 2023 Free From Food Awards (FFFAs). The coveted gold star was presented for their Gluten-Free Mixed Tray Bake Box.
“We’ve been producing free-from products for several years and this award showed that we are on the right track. It’s a steadily growing sector of the market and one we are looking to develop really interesting products for. We’ve started to produce low-sugar, as this is what customers are demanding. As a small and quite agile business, we can adapt quickly, trying to stay ahead of the curve.”
A focus on specialised product development helps Lisa, so that if a café or foodservice operator approaches them with a certain requirement, they can say yes. “Perhaps we are working with something quite generic, but can make it more sophisticated by adding local ingredients. None of our recipes are off the shelf – that’s really important to us.”
What’s also important is taste and service. “As a kind of artisan food producer, creating everything by hand with care and attention to detail, we must understand our customer base. What drives us is our inner con dence, having built our reputation on client satisfaction. People come back; whether it’s individuals, independent cafés or farm and coff ee shops. Supplying nationally, our standards need to remain high.”
This is illustrated by the new Salted Caramel Jewel Bar. The gluten-free traybake features an oaty shortbread base, with salted caramel, raspberries, pumpkin seeds and decadent dark chocolate. Visit gingerbakers.co.uk.