Community bakery
We are called a community bakery because we are a community owned business. We are owned by over 600 shareholders, most of whom are local people who live in Dunbar and the surrounding area. These shareholders put their own money into the business because they wanted to see a bakery baking bread on the high street, to see young people trained in artisan baking techniques and to contribute to a thriving community. The money they invested helped to pay for the expensive fit-out of the bakery – the ovens alone cost £11,000.
Our shareholders, as owners of the business, receive our annual report and accounts. They have an opportunity to comment on the management of the business and its strategy and to appoint members of the Management Committee. This committee establishes policy guidelines, monitors the performance of the business and supports Ross Baxter, the Head Patissier and Business Manager.
Committee
The Management Committee has up to 15 members. Eight new members were elected by shareholders at the last Annual General Meeting in May 2012, which is a measure of the enthusiasm that exists to be involved. Most of the Committee members work full time in other jobs and have a wide variety of skills and experience across the business sector. They give their time freely to Dunbar Community Bakery as volunteers. We are very grateful for the time and skills the Committee Members devote to The Bakery. It is also a reflection of the enthusiasm that exists to make this project a genuine success.
Staff
Our team is headed by Ross Baxter and we are really, really lucky to have attracted someone so highly skilled to our town. He comes from a family of bakers and learned about baking at his Uncle’s knee. As well as being a quality general baker he is a patissier – a much more highly skilled and sought after skill– he has worked with Michelin starred chefs and is Scotland’s Patissier of the year. He manages the day to day running of the business.
We have two other highly skilled bakers, Natalie Helen who started as our night shift baker – responsible for top artisan breads as well as other bread based products from Chelsea buns to Italian style Focaccia, now operates a split shift ably assisting Ross on the patisserie. Natalie is joined by Amy – graduate of the who will share these responsibilities. At any one time we may have relief bakers and guest bakers, who add variety and spice to our wide repertoire.
We have several young trainees at any one time. All of these are local and being trained in all aspects of artisan baking (a formal training in artisan baking would cost up to £18k/year). We know that there is huge demand for artisan bakers, they are a dying breed as most bakeries move to mechanised, fast processing. Once our trainee bakers have developed the full range of skills and gained experience they will be well equipped to work in our bakery or to move on to pastures new. The employment of our young trainees, all of whom were previously unemployed, was subsidised by the Scottish Jobs Challenge Fund for the first 6 months.
The shop staff are headed by Campbell Paterson. He came to us as a trainee supported by the SJCF. Campbell currently leads a team of up to 6 part-time sales staff who all live locally.
Funding
We have raised over £50,000 as equity from shareholders to help finance the business. In addition, we received several grants and loans. These sources of finance are also available to other social enterprises:
- The BIG Lottery gave a grant to help research the demand and feasibility of creating a community-run artisan bakery on Dunbar’s High Street. These grants are up to £10,000 and are available to any community group wanting to develop an idea that will benefit their community (see Investing in Ideas ).
- We received a grant from the Tyneand Esk Leader fund to help fit out the bakery. This funding was available to us because we planned to have a high number of trainees, create a large number of local jobs and provide a new service that was not already on offer in our community – quality artisan bread baked daily on the premises. We qualified for the Leader grant because none of our profits will be distributed to individuals. All our profits will be re-invested in developing the business and providing benefits, such as training, to the local community. (see )
- We have received grants from The Scottish Community Jobs Fund (SCJF) to contribute towards the first 6 months salary of each of our trainees. So far three SCJF-funded trainees have become part of our permanent staff.
We do not receive any subsidy towards the day to day running costs of the bakery. We took out loans to help establish the business. It will take several years of trading to pay these back. Like any other business, we need to generate enough revenue from sales to cover our bills and staffing costs and to reinvest in the business.
Quality
We are an artisan bakery – that means that we bake in the traditional way. We only use natural top quality ingredients. Wherever possible, these are sourced locally. We do not use packet mixes for our breads and cakes, nor artificial additives. Our bakers are extremely skilled and make all of our products by hand and most of our breads are long fermented and only lightly yeasted. This is very different to the production techniques used by most other bakeries and supermarkets. Industrial production methods use short cuts and add artificial ingredients to make their products cheaper and faster to produce. We believe that our own bread, cakes and savouries are more tasty and better for you from a nutritional point of view. (see )
There is space in every community for a range of products. In Dunbar there are many outlets selling cheaper bakery goods. We provide top quality products that are different but offer real value for money. We believe that if you give them a try you will taste the difference.
Price
Since Head Patissier Ross Baxter joined the team in early 2012, we have focused on providing higher quality products and some of our prices have increased. This simply reflects the cost of making top quality products by hand with wholesome natural ingredients. Our prices reflect the increasing cost of ingredients, packaging and overheads, which are high.
We have taken note of feedback from shareholders and customers. We have taken steps to ensure make sure that, without compromising on quality, we also provide a daily range of delicious products at affordable prices which are accessible to all our customers.
Profit
First and foremost we are a business. We do not receive any subsidy for the day to day running of The Bakery. We need to make enough revenue from sales each week to pay our staff and our bills – the same as any other business.
If we don’t succeed, the local people who we employ will lose their jobs and the town will lose a great asset. So we cannot afford to fail. The shareholders and Management Committee are working hard to make sure that the enterprise becomes financially sustainable.
Unlike other businesses, our profit will be ploughed back into the community, training even more young people, working with the local schools and investing in other local food initiatives. None of the profit from this community-owned business will be paid to our our Management Committee members and none of our future profits will be distributed to shareholders in the form of a dividend – our profit is for the benefit of the community not individuals.
However, all shareholders are entitled to a 10% discount on all goods purchased from The Bakery
School
We provide the Schools with flapjacks – this is one way we support the community. By using our trainees to make the flapjacks we are able to provide them at close to cost price – much less than our customers have to pay in the bakery.
We are proud to be serving our youngsters in this way.
We have also supported other activities at the primary and grammar school and hope to offer much more support once we have settled in as an established business.
Britain’s Best Bakery competition
We were pleasantly surprised to make it through to the televised rounds of this major national competition during our first year running a bakery. A recognition of the quality of our products.
If you didn’t watch Britain’s Best Bakery, broadcast in December 2012, we were runners up in the competition. We are grateful for the UK wide support we received, particularly those who thought we should have won. 
Local Food Bank
At the end of some weekdays we have some surplus products that cannot be sold. We have for some time now worked with the local churches providing bread and savouries to a local food bank project. This arrangement prevents waste going to landfill, but importantly helps people who are in exceptional financial difficulty.
Feedback
We are a new business. It will take us time to get everything right and we are learning and improving all the time. We want to provide what the wider community wants and we welcome suggestions – but we are only a small artisan bakery and can’t do everything, even if we wanted to.
If you would like to comment or make a suggestion, please drop by the shop, write or email your views to . You can also give feedback about bakery through our Facebook page or via our new website: http://thebakerydunbar.co.uk
If you have a complaint about the bakery or the product contact in the first instance, sounds old fashioned but we like to handle them privately but personally.
Questions about the management structure, financing, shareholding or anything else to do with the corporate governance of Dunbar Community Bakery Ltd including complaints, then please address your enquiry in the first instance to .
We look forward to hearing from you!
