Fosters Bakery planning ambitious growth in 2010

Fosters Bakery aims to add at least 10% to its turnover in 2010, to take it to £11M, according to md John Foster.

Defying gloomy predictions from some off the back of the recession, Foster said the business, which has a robust foodservice customer base, had experienced its best ever start to the year. “We’re really busy at the moment,” he said. “This time last year we were reducing shifts and cutting hours; this year we’re running flat out 24/7.
“We’ve got plans to increase capacity going forward and our aim is to reach a turnover of £11M this year.”
Aside from the strength of Fosters’ offer, he attributed the success partly to picking up business from suppliers in the same sector that had been forced out of business.
Foster said he believed some larger customers had over-estimated orders over Christmas and that there had been significant demand for products from the pub trade. “Demand from pub groups has been massive [over Christmas] and it’s still at that level.”
However, he said he did not expect this to last. “I think there will be a huge difference in the next couple of weeks. It’s got to ease off. I’ve never known a January like it.” That said, he expected Fosters, which is based in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, to pick up significant new business in the near future.
The company grew out of a transport café and became a limited company in 1959. John Foster claimed Food Manufacture​’s Personality of The Year Award​ in November 2009.