Knead Bakery have amassed a dedicated following, and it's no wonder why their 2-Star Great Taste Award bakes are at the forefront of everyone's mind. Community is at their very heart; from their local eventing van, Knead of Wheels, attending local pubs and landmarks, to running events with and for their audience. We caught up with Co-Founder, Kris, to hear from him about how it all began, and where it's going.
Can you tell us a little bit about Knead Bakery?
So we started the bakery in December 2020, which was in the second lockdown. We were surprisingly popular because, well everyone had that walk that they were allowed to take during covid and, luckily for us, we were situated in Cirencester between two public parks. It really set the bar high for the bakery, and future bakeries as well. Within 10-months, we opened Knead Tetbury and then were fortunate enough to experience rapid growth after that with the opening of our production facility in Chedglow, then bakeries in Elkstone, Oxford, Tewkesbury and our mobile bakery; Knead on Wheels.
What's your biggest value, something you want to hold onto, throughout your journey?
One of our biggest values, I might even say philosophy here, is about getting the product to taste what it tastes of, and that's why we've got multiple awards for our bakes. It's all flavour driven and that's why we continue to work with Matthews because they have the right flavour in their flour, which comes from the high-quality wheat they source. All our bakers, the full team, get involved with production and NPD and we're constantly about taste, taste, taste. If it doesn't taste right, it doesn't go out on the shop front.
What awards have you won?
We've got multiple awards for our bakes. Most of our products that we've entered into for the Great Taste Awards, have been awarded 2 Stars which we're very proud of.
How long have you been working with Matthews Cotswold Flour for?
We've been working with Matthews now for over 4 years which is a testament to itself because it's a great product. We love the communication between the sales and the production team as well, and the flour is really consistent which is the key thing for us. The communication for the protein levels is always there as well which is really important to us to help us get the best of our products.
What's the environment like in the bakeries and between the team?
We have a fantastic tight-knit community between the bakers, and we do a lot of events together as a family. You can really feel that everyone is here because they want to be, because they enjoy it, and they see the vision of where Knead is going. One rule that we've put in place at Knead is that we don't do night shifts, which is better for the bakers not having to do a long-shift throughout the night. We start our shifts at 4am in the morning with earlier finishing times, and our team appreciates that.
What are the future plans for Knead?
The big plan of action? We want 100 shops. It'll take us God knows how many years, but that's the goal, that's where we're heading.
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