Cordon Bleu chef bakes ambitious growth plans for Tarte & Berry

Artisan bakery Tarte & Berry, owned by entrepreneurial sisters Jane and Lucy Batham (the former a Cordon Bleu chef) is expanding into new premises as it looks to expand.

The business, which has seen turnover double since it launched in 2014 to £150,000, has secured a further £15,000 grant towards the cost of relocating.

The Batham sisters launched the business from home, baking artisan cakes, flapjacks and brownies to supply to coffee shops and restaurants.

Jane is a Cordon Bleu pastry chef, having trained at the Tante Marie Culinary Academy and Lucy’s background is in PR and marketing.

They attended a pop up business café delivered by the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership in November 2016 and have since accessed a range of services aimed at growing SME businesses in the region, including the AD:VENTURE programme, and have now received £15,000 over two phases.

The business was operating from a 650 sq. ft. unit, which included manufacturing, storage and office space. With plans to grow all three arms of their business – selling at food festivals and pop-ups, selling via their e-commerce site and wholesale over the next two years, bigger premises were needed.

Lucy said: “The move to our bigger bakery unit is fundamental to the growth of our business. The new premises have been designed to meet SALSA (Safe and Local Supplier Approval) accreditation, which we should achieve by October 2017. This accreditation means that we, as a small food manufacturer, are able to target larger retailers and launch our products into a much wider marketplace.

“We simply had outgrown our first unit in terms of size, space and capacity and we wanted to prepare for growth in a sensible way, so that we could plan ahead and target potential future customers”

Councillor Mohammed Rafique, Leeds City Council’s executive member for employment, skills and opportunity said: “We are undertaking a range of work both as a council and through the Leeds City Region to provide a package of support to existing and new-start businesses.

“The AD:VENTURE project which is funded through the ERDF is one of the programmes that is helping us to achieve these aims, and it is fantastic to see a business like Tarte and Berry, receive support to develop their plans for expansion.
“Leeds has a proud and rich tradition of innovation and enterprise, and this is another great example of how as a city, we are committed to helping especially young business owners and entrepreneurs grow their companies.”

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