Brakes has launched a new bread and patisserie division, La Boulangerie, to offer customers a comprehensive selection of bread, patisserie, Viennoiserie and traditional bakery products.
The aim is to cover every sector from artisan products for fine dining restaurants to visually-appealing carrier breads for sandwich bars. “The high street is coming back into fashion with people looking for specialists in their categories and we were missing a craft baker in our portfolio,” said Emma Kent, Brakes’ senior purchasing manager.
There are more than 80 new products in the range with over 50% sourced in the UK and baked to long established recipes using local ingredients. Suppliers have been carefully selected and include small bakeries such as Brown Sugar in Henley who already supply various Michelin-starred restaurants. Brown Sugar will provide the Oxford range of breads including sour dough and malted sour dough loaves.
Additionally, there’s a selection of bread baked in France with French flour, reflecting recipes and styles of artisan bakery which have been in existence for centuries and organic bread made to Soil Association standards.