staple. TM
Staple is a brand and quality assurance mark that aims to increase the presence of good, high quality bread, in a market dominated by mass produced low quality product. It does this by marketing the collective output of many independent bakers to a large range of independent resellers. Staple’s endorsement of bakers, the staple mark, means that the bread they produce is of the highest standard, both in terms of ingredients and processes. Staple’s focus is on making great bread available to everyone, not as a specialty but as a standard. It is not necessarily about making the product cheaper, although it is possible, but is in helping the consumer understand the increased value that they are paying for - a nutritious product that is the outcome of an individuals invested time, skill and experience supporting local economies and community.
Provenance and Trust
Bag for Life - Enrichment
Neutral Mediation
Self-Education
When combined with a paper bag the fabric provides the Once endorsed the baker has a custom heat stamp made carrying their name, so each loaf is traceable back to them and optimum environment to keep bread. It forms the bread’s home their name becomes synonymous with the quality of their bread. for its life, whether hung up in the kitchen or protecting the other contents of a bag when out shopping.
Collective purchase, distribution and price matching are all potentially huge benefits for independent bakers however they have neither the time nor impartiality to coordinate this relationship themselves. Staple does.
The role of the site is two fold, firstly, to act as a resource for those interested in the need for a quality mark and in order to self educate about the bread industry. Secondly, to help people locate staple accredited bakers near them.
Bread Board - Enrichment
Bread Knife - Enrichment
Education Standard
Many people are put off from buying unsliced bread because of the challenge cutting it initially poses, the patterns of this board give the user a perspective guide, showing them where their cut will finish, making learning less frustrating.
A great knife is as important as a good board. It needs to be strong, sharp and straight to guide the cut and slice through the bread easily without crushing it. We partnered with French marque Sabatier to include a great knife with the board.
Finding a competent baker is very difficult and many new bakeries fold after a few years in business, this is usually due to unreal expectations of workload and lack of business acumen. Staple endorsed education combines practical work with apprenticeship and business education to ensure that once graduated the student is of the highest standard. Upon graduation each baker receives their own stamp and is added to the staple work pool where employers can post adverts for work.
Emma-Claude Phillips The French Oven
Matthew Rawlings The Great Northumberland Bakery
I would definitely join this service, the collective idea is great, I would love everyone to work together we would get more done and get much better prices on better ingredients. It will be a challenge to get everyone on the same page though, it’s not impossible, but you will have to make people see that you are bringing them business and benefiting them. Sharing bakers and having a reliable work pool would be immensely helpful for large and small bakers alike
It all comes down to education, people don’t know anything anymore, you are just sold what you are sold, what the shops tell you to buy, no one looks at the bigger picture. I think a more commercially biased accreditation system is hugely attractive and particularly for small producers where you have a small bakery working long hard hours, to have some way of promoting your product in a real way, which is what staple would be doing, is very appealing. What I see out of it is to champion the producer and his or her ethics towards making an honest product, at the moment there is nothing that does that. What you are selling is truth