Family-run Sussex bakery pivots into online flour success after collapse of wholesale business
Following the collapse of their wholesale business due to Covid-19, Raise Bakery has sold 10 tons of flour online and are on target to have one of their busiest months in 11-year history.
Worthing-based, family-run artisan bakery Raise Bakery saw the overnight collapse of their wholesale bakery business, which predominantly supported the airline industry, following the government imposed lockdown from Covid-19.
As a result, they shut up shop and furloughed the team before realising the opportunity to sell flour and other baking ingredients direct to consumers from their website.
Owner Jeremy Jacobs initially decided to reopen the bakery in week two of lockdown to supply cakes and treats to NHS frontline staff and carers which was extremely popular. They hand delivered thousands of cakes and treats to care homes, hospitals and NHS Trusts all over Sussex including Royal Sussex Country Hospital.
It was following a request from his local community Facebook group for flour, that Jeremy had an idea to sell flour and other bakery ingredients that have disappeared from supermarkets and shops. He built a website in 24 hours and saw demand increase quickly, having implemented a new ordering and logistics system overnight.
Raise has since been able to provide temporary work and paid the living wage to 10 people who had recently lost their jobs. In addition, Raise Bakery has partnered with Pay It Forward Direct in Brighton and Hove – they provide over 5,000 meals a week to the homeless, vulnerable, NHS frontline workers and food banks.
Raise Bakery has committed to provide desserts and cakes for every order placed on their online shop and last week donated their second 5,000 portions of cake to the community kitchen. Raise continues to grow its online shop to be the number one online destination for professional grade bakery ingredients for the "at home baker".
Customers have been delighted with the quality of products and level of service with 95% of customers rating them five stars. Find out more at https://shop.raisebakery.com.
Jeremy Jacobs, owner and Managing Director at Raise Bakery, comments: “What started as a way to help out friends and people in the community has turned into a viable new business. We've been quite overwhelmed with the demand! We've had to employ quickly whilst implementing new health and safety measures to ensure the wellbeing of the team and their loved ones. They have been fantastic, and we've pulled together to ship 250 orders a day. It's been wonderful to be able to give back to the community by donating food to local community kitchens, food banks and NHS frontline staff.”
Raise Bakery began in Lindsay’s kitchen (Jeremy’s Mum) in 2009 and now has a production facility in Worthing and a team of four bakers. Prior to the lockdown the company specialised in large scale and wholesale cakes with that “baked at home” taste for a range of customers in the retail, wholesale and airline markets, for brands including Virgin Atlantic, No1 Lounges, Netto, British Airways and Qatar Airways.