Ruby's Bakery is a growing establishment in the B2B space, having expanded to supply nationally. They're nominated for Team of the Year at the 2026 BIA Awards, and it's no wonder having seen the fantastic community they've built for themselves in Sussex. We caught up with Business Operations Director, Emily Cheal.
Can you tell us about Ruby's Bakery?
Of course! We are a bakery that's been running for about 20 years, it'll be 20 years next year (2027!) It was set up by my mother-in-law and father-in-law all those years ago. Initially, we set the bakery up to support our food service business and then we just found the love of cake, and biscuits, and tarts! So, we adapted the bakery for that. We've now got a team of around 45 members of staff who are fantastic and we could not do this without them. We supply garden centres, farm shops, independent supermarkets across the UK in both the retail market and food service business too. We just love what we do.
What products do you do?
We have 50 products for the retail market, some of these we've won awards for which we're extremely proud of. We do anything through to cakes, brownies, traybakes, tarts, biscuits, cookies, and we cover not only the retail market but the food service market as well, so cafes and restaurants which we have about 30 lines for.
What achievements are you particular proud of?
Over the last 20 years we've achieved having a fantastic team which we're up for a BIA (2026) for Team of the Year. We're really excited about that and are so proud of our team. We've also won the Gold award for our Sussex Fruit Cake, which is one of my favourites! And the Silver award for our Viennese Whirls. We've won Prestige Awards for Bakery of the Year for two years running, and we are absolutely delighted of how far our little business has come, which we've organically grown over the last 20 years.
What makes the team special?
Our team are everything. We literally couldn't run without them! The team are our heart. They are so talented and so forward thinking that we just can't function without them, which is one of the reasons why I believe we're up for the Team of the Year Award this year (2026). We also feel very passionate about supporting the team as well, so we offer a benefits scheme where they get free counselling for their mental health, reduced gym membership, vouchers towards shopping, and more. We have a very open approach to the management within the company, so we would be horrified if a staff member felt like they couldn’t come to us about something. We also don't ask them to do anything that we wouldn't do. We're all on the same page, we all turn up with a smile on our face, and we just have such a welcoming and supportive environment. We're a true family run business, and we regard all of our team as family as well.
How much has the business grown in the last 20 years?
In the last 20 years our business has organically grown which we're extremely proud of. We started off with the first unit which is where we now have all of our bakers, we then knocked the wall through to our decorating area, and then knocked the wall through again to our packing area which was then our warehouse. As we were rapidly growing, we found that we still needed more space to cater for the demand we were getting. So, last year, we took on another warehouse next door which has just been finished. And we turned our old warehouse into production space as the team needed it. We're extremely proud how we've grown but done it at a steady rate not to be detrimental to the business or our staff. We plan on growing continually and I think that, if we all put our minds together, we can take over the world with cake!
https://www.rubys-bakery.co.uk
https://www.instagram.com/rubysbakeryltd
https://www.facebook.com/rubysbakeryltd
