On a recent summer's day, we invited our community of craft food producers for lunch at our Creative Studio in Camden. On the menu? A seasonal feast, plus conversation about how collaboration and community are key to building the supply chains needed for a healthier food system.
A baker is nothing without their miller. Or farmer. Or cheesemonger. Or dairy supplier, or fruit and veg grocer. Or chocolate maker, for that matter…. We could go on. To bake is to rely on a village of producers, and we have long thought that the quality of our baking is an expression of their ingredients. As such, we’ve always sourced the best produce we can, from people who share our ethos around what good food is.
Then as now, we like to select producers the old-fashioned way: over lunch and a chat, perhaps a glass of wine or two. We like to feel a mutual sense of compatibility and have a shared understanding of what quality means beyond just flavour. With this approach, we have relished building relationships with some of the UK’s best producers, and delighted in being able to bake with and serve their goods every day.
But we want to do more. Using our scale, we want to more actively support smaller partners to do more of the good they are already doing in growing, making and caring for food in healthy and sustainable ways. We believe building a better food system calls for collaboration, whereby the growth of our business can be leveraged to support and grow others, creating change at scale.
To share this approach with our suppliers, we recently invited them for a summer lunch at our Creative Studio in Camden. Represented were some of the UK’s best craft food businesses, among them MOMO Kombucha, Quicke’s Cheese, Lincolnshire Poacher, Daily Dose and Wildpress. Many attendees knew each other already, but strangers were quickly acquainted and connections made.
Sitting down to lunch, it was heartening to see the sense of connection we want to foster with and among our suppliers happening in real-time. Cheesemakers swapped notes, Islands Chocolate shared their experience of growth over the last few years, and Ruaridh Buchanan of Buchanans Cheesemonger reflected on how some of our most-loved bakes (like our ham and cheese croissant) came about through speculative conversations – proof enough that more moments for human connection are needed in our food system.
Looking ahead, we will continue to see our baker’s table, pantry shelves and fridges as platforms for showcasing the best-made produce in the UK and beyond. Only now, with more meet-ups like this, there will be even more to share.
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Words Charlie Monaghan
Photography Elliot Sheppard