Breadmeister Artisan Bakery Canning Town

Aim

Breadmeister Artisan Bakery would like to raise funding to help renovate a new shop unit located 5 minutes away from Canning Town Station

Breadmeister: A Bakery for Canning Town  

How It All Began: 2021 Lockdown
“We need a bakery in town!” “It’s good to have you around” - This is what people have been saying ever since Jon started Breadmeister at home. A micro-bakery (really really small production) was born and in no time started to venture out of home to The Silver Building’s shared kitchen unit.

A life changing opportunity was given to Jon by Projekt in May 2021 to produce Sourdough bread and croissants for the local community.

Photo: Pain Au Chocolat

Summer (2022)
Having soon outgrown the shared kitchen at The Silver Building, the latter half of 2022 saw Breadmeister relocating to The Factory Project E16.

During the Summer, sales and reputation continued to grow at the Factory, despite it being further away. However, it soon became a little bit of a struggle to maintain the footfall due to the miserably wet and wintry weather conditions.

Winter (2022)
The Bakery was closed for nearly a month over Winter and Jon was fortunate enough to secure a temporary role at the supermarket at short notice. During this time, the future of Breadmeister was uncertain and the possibility of closing for good was on the table.

“Is a Bakery a seasonal business? Should we only trade during the warmer summer months? Is it viable to open for 6 months and secure a separate job during the colder wetter months?”

These questions kept on swirling around in Jon’s head during the festive season.

It soon became apparent that Jon’s calling in life was to create artisanal products using the finest ingredients from farm to table (Wild Farmed Flour)

Photo: The Silver Building

Re-opening Early for Pre-orders (2023)
Jon handed in his notice and decided to re-open the bakery in early January for pre-orders on a Saturday.

He was only able to offer a limited menu of Sourdough bread and posted on Instagram to see if any of his customers wanted to pre-order in advance.

To his surprise, messages started flooding in and we managed to sell out on both weekends. It was incredibly heart-warming to feel the support from our wonderful customer base.

Photo: The Dream

After a period of reflection and assessment, we came to the conclusion that for the business to be sustainable in the long run, we need to be more accessible and closer to town. This has been further backed up by the success at local farmers markets.

Our Plans For The Future (2023 and Beyond)
Just as we were scrambling for ideas, we came across a very timely opportunity. Projekt and Vistry Ventures were offering affordable workspaces and retail units at the Brunel Street Works to the local community.

The New Unit
Breadmeister will be at the heart of the High Street. The unit is situated on the ground level of Brunel Street Works just by the entrance of Premier Inn.

It is also conveniently facing the site of the Phase 2/3 of Hallsville Quarter and about a 5-minute walk from the escalators of Canning Town Station.

The rectangular unit is about 580 sqft with a long side with windows facing the street. It comes as a bare shell unit which means it must be fitted out from the ground up.

The unit is also slightly bigger than our current location. One of the challenges during the colder months is keeping the Croissants at a consistent temperature. They are very sensitive to the change in temperature and can fail in many different ways.

The Croissants that we produce are sourdough versions with a small amount of yeast to boost the proving process. On average they take between 12-14 hours to prove at room temperature. 

The non-sourdough yeasted versions usually only take 2 hours to fully prove but we would like to continue making sourdough versions because they have a unique flavour profile. 

We would like to build a warm room at the new location so that the croissants can be kept at the optimum temperature to ensure consistency in our products (This will be subject to the building fire & safety inspection etc)

Phase 1 – Plumbing (toilet, sink and drains), Installing the floor, lights, warm room, walls, partitions and electrical wiring
Phase 2 – Fresh air ventilation unit, extraction for the ovens, air conditioning and ceiling
Phase 3 – Transferring existing bakery equipment over, purchasing new shop floor items and renovating the shop front

Phase 4 - Purchasing a commercial coffee machine to offer espresso based drinks
Phase 5 – Expanding the business and purchasing a deck oven (Future phase)

Our Vision
We would love to expand our current range of products and get creative in the kitchen. We’re an independent business with a very small team but we hope to grow at a steady pace and offer a wider range of baked goods and desserts to our community.

Our aim is to open 3 - 4 days a week offering freshly baked bread, croissants, a selection of desserts as well as simple lunch options (toasties).

Challenges
We are fully aware of the cost of living crisis, high energy prices and inflation impacting everyone right now. The cost of ingredients has doubled, and the energy prices have gone through the roof.

Opening a bakery in the current climate is very risky, but we believe that what the Breadmeister is able to offer the community is unique. 

Bakeries have disappeared from Canning Town and we would love to bring it back to the High Street.


Our Crowdfunding Campaign (Target £5k – £15k)
We are raising money to help support the cost of fitting out the Unit (Phase 1) with a stretch target to help with some Phase 2 costs.

In addition to the crowdfunding campaign, we will be: -

• Applying for a Start Up Loan (£15k)
• Raising Capital (£10k)
• Seeking further investment / sponsorship (£ TBC)

If you are able to donate towards our campaign (I believe the minimum is £1) or help spread the word by sharing it via the social media platforms, then we will be extremely grateful for your support.

We are also offering some rewards for your pledges, please let me know if you would like me to add any extra rewards to the project.

Thank You

We would like to express our heartfelt thanks and gratitude to the following people: -

• Projekt & Royal Docks Team for giving us various life changing opportunities to grow and expand the Breadmeister
• Royal Wharf Market (Ace Events), Royal Docks Street Food Market and Gallions Place for allowing me to set up market stalls to gain exposure and reach new customers
• MATT PR for Gallions Place and Mount Anvil (Royal Eden Docks) for reaching out and promoting me from the early days of The Breadmeister 
• Wharf Life Magazine (Laura Enfield and Matt Grayson) for interviewing me and allowing me to share my story with the world  
• DTM Print for sponsoring and printing my Breadmeister labels
• Our wonderful and supportive customer base for your understanding (when things go wrong…) and for truly believing in me. You have given me the motivation and faith to follow my dream and passion of making bread and croissants for a living
• To everyone else who has helped and supported me throughout my journey

Local Community

Prior to launching the Breadmeister, I felt disconnected from the local community as I worked in Central London as a chef and didn't have any free time to explore the area beyond the Tube Station.

However, through the magic of making and baking bread, I have had the pleasure of meeting and becoming acquainted with so many friendly people from all walks of life. 

Let’s build a bakery together! For the community, by the community. 

More Information: -

This Is Projekt: http://thisisprojekt.com/

Brunel Street Project: https://www.brunelstreetproject.co.uk/

Gallions Place Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc4tsZ8tWQW

Wharf Life Interview by Laura Enfield - https://wharf-life.com/interviews/royal-docks-how-breadmeister-grinds-hard-to-produce-its-selection-of-baked-goods/

Mount Anvil: Royal Eden Docks Interview

Breadmeister: http://www.instagram.com/Breadmeister

DTM Print (EU): http://dtm-print.eu/en/

Wild Farmed: https://wildfarmed.co.uk/

This project successfully funded on 8th March 2023