A fast-expanding East Anglian bakery chain will be among the food producers exhibiting at the Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival this year as the business gears up for further growth.
Rebecca Bishop founded Two Magpies in 2013 when she started up a bakery in "a beautiful Edwardian glass-fronted shop" in Southwold.
It specialised in long-fermented sourdough bread, along with cakes and pastries and became very popular. A year after opening it was shortlisted for the Observed Food Monthly Awards.
The business now has branches in Darsham, Aldeburgh and Woodbridge, Norwich, Blakeney and Holt - with plans to open more and its production sites are at Halesworth and Walpole - and employs 230 people. The business is co-owned by Steve Magnall and 60% of staff work in back of house and production, including a team of skilled bakers and pastry chefs.
Rebecca, a former art teach in Hertfordshire, used to bake bread and develop recipes in her spare time before taking the plunge and launching her own business. She attended a short bread-baking course at The School of Artisan Food in Welbeck, Nottinghamshire, which inspired her to search for the bakery of her dreams and was drawn to the site at Southwold.
She is a keen promoter of the Real Bread Campaign and enjoys teaching bakery at the Darsham site, which runs a bakery school. She has also offered demonstrations at the Latitude Festival - and the Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival - an annual celebration of local produce - which this year takes place on the weekend of September 24 and 25.
She has been penning a book documenting her journey from home baker to successful business owner which is interspersed with stories of bakery life with recipes, step-by-step photos and baking tips gleaned from years of experience. It will be published by Headline Home in 2023.
Celebration cakes are a growing part of the business along with an online baked goods retail arm.
"We have opened three new sites in the last 18 months which are very successful. We have plans to open more sites and are currently investigating outside investment to support our expansion," said Rebecca.
"As with all hospitality businesses at the moment we are facing challenges of labour shortage and rising fuel and ingredients costs."
Despite the challenges, the business is looking to expand to new sites.
"We are also investing in training through apprenticeships and day release schemes for local colleges," she said.
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