Bread Ahead opened in September 2013, serving patrons of London’s famous Borough Market, as well as supplying local restaurants and delis. The Bakery School followed in February 2014, with the objective to show just how easy baking good bread can be. Hannah Barnett spoke to Founder and Owner Matthew Jones to hear more about the company’s successful trajectory.
The mission of Bread Ahead has always been to make baking accessible and bring high-quality baked goods to the masses. Despite its tremendous success, the company is unlikely to lose sight of these roots.
“What’s important is that we’re still a family business,” said Founder and Owner Matthew Jones. “It’s me and my wife, and we don’t have outside investors. There is no VC or hedge fund behind us, and we don’t want one. They approach us quite often, but we are not interested. We don’t need it. It’s a great position to be in. But we do work for it; Bread Ahead is a seven day a week operation, foot on the gas and it does not stop.”
Launched in London Longevity has paid off for Mr Jones, who has been in the food industry for almost 40 years, while over the last 11,
Bread Ahead has gone from strength to strength. Following its initial spot in Borough Market, the bakery has opened sites in Chelsea, Soho, Bromley, Kensington and Wembley.
The company currently has 120 staff, while the Bread Ahead bakery school teaches 20,000 students a year. This translates to 400 a week, phenomenal growth from 60 per week when it opened. And Bread Ahead is no longer a nationally constrained business, having recently opened café and bakery school locations in Saudi Arabia and Dubai, with more to follow in the region.
“We’ve got a very ambitious partner in the Middle East,” said Mr Jones. “So, we have two more sites set to open in Kuwait and Egypt later in 2024. The gates are open now, we’ve got interest from all over the world. Our business model, which is a
combination of a bakery, an educational platform and a retail outlet, is a fabulous one. We’ve really nailed it.
“The MENA region is a huge market for baking, and we tick all the boxes. Being
a known London brand is a big deal these days. I worked as a chef in the 90s, and at that time, London only had about six estaurants that were any good. But now, London is a serious player on the global scene.”
The baking boomers
The Bread Ahead Baking School is home to ever-popular baking workshops including Doughnuts , Great
British Baking, Nordic and Gluten-free. Led by Bread Ahead’s masterful bakery school tutors, the classes offer an insight into proper artisanal baking.
“The school has a great community spirit,” said Mr Jones. “It’s a nice activity to include as part of a day trip to London. It’s more than just baking, it’s a creative way to spend three hours learning a skill and all about flour and what’s in season.”
During the Covid lockdown, and the boom in home baking that came with it, Bread Ahead garnered traction online by using its platform to offer baking lessons.
“The big thing was Instagram,” Mr Jones explained. “We did free online tutorials for around a year solid, and that went viral. At one stage, we were having 8,000 live users on the platform. The school was already well-established, but suddenly we had an international audience. That was a game changer.”
One of the company’s most iconic and successful products of recent years has been its crème brûlée doughnut. Creation was the result of the various influences of Mr Jones, his long career, Michelin training and a personal passion for food.
“I go to markets, the Harrods food hall and visit new restaurants,” he said. “I look at social media for what other bakeries are doing. I’ve got my ear to the ground; I see what’s going on. A lot of my inspiration comes from travelling, especially in America. And somehow all that percolates into what we make, including the crème brûlée doughnut, which has been an unbelievable success. It is literally the biggest thing we’ve ever done. From the minute that launched, it flew.”
Bread Ahead owes at least a portion of its success to a strong relationship with suppliers. The company rarely, if ever, changes suppliers, and dependability is a significant part of the Bread Ahead ethos. As a result, the company regularly uses the same dry goods supplier; JW Pike, as well
as Allan Reeder for dairy and has worked with Marriage’s Millers since day one.
“I love the flour from Marriage’s,” Mr Jones said. “It’s English and the wheat is grown about 30 miles away. I like to be loyal to suppliers. Could we go cheaper somewhere else? Probably. But I’m not really interested. I like phoning up Heidi at Allan Reeder (Heidi Reeder, Managing Director) and saying: ‘Hey, Heidi, how’s it going?’ It’s an intricate relationship, more than just supplier/customer. And they go the extra mile for us, so that’s really important.”
Breaking bread
While Mr Jones is passionate about the café and bakery side of Bread Ahead, it is clear that the baking school has a special place in his heart. And the two things need not be at odds.
“We run a bakery business, but we also teach 20,000 people a year to bake at home,” he said. “It’s a bit of a dichotomy. But I believe that the best loaf of bread you will ever have is one made at home. Because it’s not only the loaf of bread, but also the experience of getting there. It’s the communication with the family during the process of baking. It’s the smells and the life force that it brings into the home. It’s keeping a starter in the fridge and remembering to feed it, like a little ritual. And it’s incredibly sustainable because there is no packaging at all.”
With such a firm footprint already in the capital, Bread Ahead has no immediate plans to open more café locations in London, though it is always on the lookout for new locations. The company does intend to extend the baking school by opening an academy in June 2024.
“We’re looking at setting it up either as a charity or a social enterprise,” Mr Jones concluded. “That’s something dear to me and we want to offer training at a more a professional level, from school-leaver age. I was incredibly fortunate when I was 15, I left school and knew exactly what I wanted to do. I just wanted to be a chef; I had no interest in anything else. I think if youngsters and school-leavers have an opportunity to work in a properly structured environment with vocational training that could be significant.
“I still get a buzz from being part of this industry. I’m an early riser and I love to get up and go to work. We’ve got a very strong team at the moment; they are very consistent. It’s a great environment to be in.” n
