“Quality tells”

Throughout its century in the business, Cavan Bakery has kept a keen eye on the future. The company has recently started a new chapter by moving into a new home, a facility three times the size of its old one. Jeff Greenall, Cavan Bakery Director, gave baking+biscuit international a glimpse into the work behind the recent GBP 1.5 m investment and the company’s take on innovation.

+Family-owned Cavan Bakery recently moved into a new, 15,000-sq ft baking facility on Lyon Road in Walton-on-Thames in December 2022, an expansion supported with GBP 1.5 m funding it secured from Lloyds Bank. It is three times the size of its previous bakery. The expansion means that Cavan can now increase production, with better streamlined operations. “The design and flow of the new bakery and segregation of different stages of production allow us to maintain more stability and control over our products and overall production,” says Jeff Greenall, director at Cavan Bakery.

Cavan currently sends around 80,000 products each week to its shops and local businesses. Among them are 40 different types of bread and 30 ranges of pastries, buns and cakes, as well as snacks such as the popular sausage rolls and sandwiches. The business also runs 13 bakery shops across Surrey and South London and a café at Molesey Boat Club. In a typical week, it sells over 12,000 loaves, 7,000 morning goods and pastries, 3,000 savory pastries, 8,000 sandwiches, 4,000 cakes and 3,000 coffees in its shops and other wholesales businesses. With the expansion complete, it has boosted its storage and production capabilities.

The business opened its first shop in Twickenham, South-West London, in 1929. “Right from the start, David Cavan – my wife’s grandfather – used the phrase, “Quality tells”, when placing local adverts. He valued producing and selling quality products and that has stayed with us to this day. We pride ourselves in producing premium bakery goods at reasonable prices,” says Greenall.

The business has been forward-thinking since the start and its values remain the same today. In 1944, it became one of the first bakeries in the country to change from hand-drawn bread barrows to electric-powered carts to carry out its home deliveries. And 70 years later, Cavan became one of the first bakeries to invest in a modern electric delivery van, Greenall recalls. That was in 2018. Since starting on this sustainable road, Cavan Bakery is now looking into turning their entire fleet electric.

A measure of success

”Success for me personally is still being in business after 23 years and having the honor of keeping the family business going, now in its 94th year. Over the years, we have developed – and, I hope, improved – our product range and offering to our existing customers to ensure that they keep coming back, while at the same time appealing to new customers as we grow and expand.”

The moment when Jeff Greenall and his wife, Sarah, bought the business from her parents, in 2000, was a major milestone for the business. The bakery grew and has moved twice since, in 2010 and more recently, in November 2022, when it relocated to Lyon Road. “When we took on the business, we started with three shops and now have 13, plus a café on the Thames (Eight on the River), with plans for more shops,” he says.

Greenall finds validation in having happy customers talk about how great the products are. “Success for me personally is still being in business after 23 years and having the honor of keeping the family business going, now in its 94th year. Over the years, we have developed – and, I hope, improved – our product range and offering to our existing customers to ensure that they keep coming back, while at the same time appealing to new customers as we grow and expand,” Greenall explains. He also prides himself on not resting on their laurels as the company enjoys success. Instead, the company worked on innovating and staying competitive. “We have been mindful to keep our brand up to date while maintaining an artisan, craft feel that reflects our values,” he highlights.

There has been, of course, no smooth sailing for the entire industry recently, successful businesses such as Cavan Bakery included. Starting with pandemic restrictions, more waves came, from supply issues to energy costs and inflation worries, to build up a storm. By and large, the company kept baking through COVID issues, even if the wholesale business disappeared with the lockdowns. “Fortunately, our shops were busy and we gained lots of new customers, most of whom are still with us,” Greenall adds.

Cavan’s anchor throughout the recent and ongoing industrywide storms has been staying true to its affordable quality concept, which has been rewarded with loyalty from its community. After all, bakeries and consumers weather the same storm: “We want our customers to have a great experience when shopping with us and enjoy our products over and over again. The cost of living crisis is a real problem for so many people and customers will be increasingly discerning about what they buy. It’s vital that whatever we sell is memorable and of great value,” Greenall underlines. With this mindset, Cavan will never compromise on using quality ingredients and the best flours. In the past few years, that meant keeping their suppliers very close in working together to ensure supply continuity. This is not to say the bakery has not also seen material prices soar in recent years. Much of the cost increase is absorbed, but some had to be passed on to the customers.

To manage skyrocketing energy costs, Cavan Bakery has been working on striking long-term deals with suppliers and being able to negotiate sensible tariffs. One of the biggest challenges post-COVID was one severely felt in the industry: staff shortage, which “is causing huge wage inflation, much bigger than rising ingredient prices. This I cannot see changing,” he estimates.

Tomorrow is today: sustainability

The business now works with a staff of 150 people. In line with the facility expansion, the head office team was also recently increased with the addition of financial and HR departments. Together, they work on developing new products, opening new shops, growing the wholesale network and establishing the company’s online shop. Doing business locally is a priority at Cavan Bakery, starting from their products to sourcing ingredients and supporting the local community. The daily production surplus is donated to local charities and social programs, a twice-beneficial initiative since it also means that food waste is minimized. Cavan

Bakery established partnerships with charities such as Glassdoor, The Real Junk Food Project and Surplus to Supper, who collect the food surplus at its shops and ensure it is redistributed responsibly.

Sustainability is inherent to every aspect of the company’s work. “We are very conscious that we use a lot of energy within our production and delivery. We are always looking ahead at new technology and at reducing our carbon footprint by replacing or upgrading machinery and ovens,” Cavan’s co-owner emphasizes. The transition to electric vans is underway and solar panels will be installed on the roof of the bakery, for green, self-produced energy.

Packaging sustainability is also important. “We moved away from using plastic bags for our baked goods some time ago and now only use paper bags and cardboard packaging. All our branded packaging is made from 100% recycled materials and is, in turn, fully recyclable,” Greenall says. One area still in need of a solution is sliced bread packaging. This is a work in progress, with several trials attempting to package this product in a variety of compostable and biodegradable bags. However, they were found to promote moisture loss. Until the best green solution for shelf life is found, plastic bags make sense, in this case, and are still used for sliced bread to keep it fresh for longer and prevent staling. For other baked treats, the company sells cotton drawstring bread bags as well as reusable bamboo coffee cups in all of its shops as a sustainable alternative, and they encourage customers to reuse and recycle wherever possible.

A big leap

The bakery opened its three newest shops in the last two years, in Shepperton, Wimbledon Park and Sunbury. The goal is to reach 20 shops by the end of 2024 – seven more to go, out of which, at least three should be opened sometime this year. The business is currently looking to expand into Surrey, Hampshire, and Berkshire. It is also slowly making its way towards central London, but it may have some way to go yet. “We look out for areas that already have independent shops, post offices and parking. I always know when we find the right spot and will wait until a site becomes available rather than compromising on any of our considerations,” Greenall explains regarding the location hunting process.

The latest expansion, which effectively tripled Cavan Bakery’s production real estate, was a huge undertaking for the business, one that was the cause of many sleepless nights for Jeff Greenall: “I had known for some years that our old bakery was too small and, therefore, inefficient. I had many criteria that the new site needed to fulfill, so I viewed many, many buildings until I found the right one,” he recalls.

The size of the new bakery was also crucial in the choice. It had to be a site that the business could grow into and not one that it would quickly outgrow. Having generous offices was also on the checklist, keeping in mind accommodating and attracting more people into the business. “Recruiting more staff and upskilling them to our standards is our biggest factor in optimizing our production flow,” explains Greenall. The location also played a role. “We had to move to a place where our staff would still be able to get to work easily, so good transport links were really important.” What’s more, the working environment is much more pleasant at the new address, which the staff can enjoy, he appreciates.

Once the site was chosen, then the real work started. Greenall had to plan the bakery, considering workflow, access, cleanliness, power and water requirements, as well as areas that could be temperature regulated. “I tendered the project as a whole turnkey solution, as well as in parts, with the idea that I would manage the project. Eventually, I went with a specialist company to do the whole project,” he shares. The planning started in March 2022 and the facility was operational in November 2022. The project grew organically: the original plan saw numerous tweaks along the way, and there are more things to be added even now to improve efficiency and workflow, Greenall reveals.

The expansion brought improvements to the production process. The bakery incorporates updated technology overall, including motion sensor lights throughout the facility, so that lights are not left on unnecessarily, and electric ovens replacing gas-fired technology, or temperature-controlled environments in the different production areas so that they are not affected by outside changes in temperature.

Some processes, however, are meant to attest to the artisan bakers’ craft skills, on which the company relies. This is why shaping and finishing are still done by hand, for example. “Production capacity has scaled up, but our traditional methods, values and means of production were preserved.

Good baking takes skill, time and passion and we are not prepared to compromise on any of these,” Greenall points out.

As he puts it, the bakery’s “single most important technology” is its workforce, as it relies on the hand and the craft of its bakers. Because of ongoing recruitment challenges, Cavan Bakery is looking into automating some of the more routine parts of the production process, such as dough dividing, pastry cutting and piping.

For the love of sourdough

The majority of the specialty breads Cavan Bakery makes are sourdoughs. Interestingly, sourdough is a weekend favorite among the bakery’s customers: “Sourdoughs account for about 30% of our overall bread sales, although this rises considerably at weekends. We are currently working on Spelt varieties, Sweet Potato and Rosemary, and a Chocolate Sourdough.”

In addition, there are still more traditional breads, morning goods, cakes, savories, sandwiches and coffee on the menu, as always, but, within these categories, the selection has changed, Greenall observes. In the bread segment, Cavan Bakery now sells a large range of sourdough varieties every day, which has overtaken the old classics such as sandwich bread. These still have their customer base, but are becoming less popular with changing tastes. Cavan favorites such as jam doughnuts and brownies also perform well, but they have been developed and improved.

More delicious specialties will be introduced soon: “We are currently developing some amazing pastries – savory and sweet – and flatbreads. And, of course, some interesting new sourdoughs,” Greenall anticipates.

For seasonal offerings, the busiest holidays for Cavan Bakery are Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Easter. Other special dates in the bakery’s calendar include Hampton Court, the Chelsea Flower Show, and European finals (football). “Though we say it ourselves, we believe our Mince Pies and Hot Cross Buns –following traditional family recipes – really are the best out there and our customer feedback and sales reflect that,” he says.

The bakery’s relationship with its customers is key; there would simply be no business without them. In this regard, “Our three guiding values are all about our Passion, our Product and People. It is heartwarming to see that our customers are loyal, and loyal throughout the generations; having been part of our local community for nearly 100 years; we have children and grandchildren of our first customers still shopping with us,” says the business owner. Social media helps them connect, and the bakery is happy to invite them behind the scenes with photos and videos, in which they highlight their values: the people, their passion for the craft and the process behind the products.

Wholesale customers are equally important: “We try our best to accommodate any unusual requests. We want companies that are driven by quality so we avoid companies whose only motivation is price.” The bakery supplies over 100 wholesale customers in the area, including local cafés, restaurants and farm shops, which account for around 15% of its total business.

“We’re really privileged to have been able to grow at a strong and steady rate, particularly over the last decade as people have discovered the craft of skilled artisan bakers who provide quality and diverse goods,” Greenall acknowledges. “We are proud to provide our customers with local, sustainably-sourced products.” +++

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