Christmas has come early for a wholesale bakery which is expanding as a result of a festive contract.
Leggs Bakery in Halstead has taken on two new staff as a result of a Christmas contract to supply more than 100 East of England Co-op stores across the region with mince pies.
The wholesale bakery is owned by 43-year-old Danny Stevens, who took over the business from Brian Legg in 2011, after being made redundant from his job in retail project management.
Originally based in Braintree, the business moved to larger premises at the Broton Trading Estate in Halstead in 2012.
Today it supplies fresh breads and pastries to customers ranging from local catering companies to burger vans, as well as to 11 East of England Co-op stores all year round as part of the independent retailer’s Sourced Locally range.
The security of regular orders from being a Sourced Locally supplier has been a key factor in helping the business to expand over the last couple of years, says Danny.
“We started by supplying the West Bergholt store in 2012,” he said.
“Now we supply 11 different stores including the food store at Parkfields. The East of England Co-op has become one of our biggest customers and the best thing was that they allowed us to grow at our own pace. We increased the number of stores we delivered to as and when we could.”
Kevin Warden, Fresh and Local Food Manager at the East of England Co-op, said the mince pies were very popular.
“As soon as we tasted the mince pies last year we were smitten, and it seems our customers felt the same as they flew off the shelves in the Essex. We knew we had to make sure even more people had the chance to taste them this Christmas and we’re proud to have worked with Danny to ensure we can have a choice of locally made mince pies on our shelves across all our stores in the region this year.”
Danny has moved some office space upstairs to extend his pastry production area. He has also taken on two new members of staff, taking his team to 15.
“Each and every one of our short pastry mince pies is hand-made from scratch, using as much local produce as possible, as a result no two ever look quite the same, but all are equally delicious,” he said.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here