(Image: Story Shop)
A Scottish bakery that has clients ranging from café customers to Michelin-starred restaurants has highlighted the value of the hospitality industry.
Amy Findlater, co-founder of the Company Bakery, has pointed to pressures facing many customers across the wholesale business.
Here, in our Q&A, the entrepreneur said that “to be able to welcome the public into Company Bakery, to see the skilled work our bakers, production and operations team do day in, day out, and smell the delicious freshly baked goods coming out of the oven has been special”.
However, she also said: “We sell predominantly to hospitality businesses, who face rising rents, rates, VAT, higher employment costs and so much more.
“It would be reassuring to know there was someone who understands the potential of UK hospitality involved in high-level economic discussions within government.”
Company Bakery’s founders include Amy and Duncan Findlater, of the Smith & Gertrude wine bars, Ben Reade, and Hollie Love Reid.
Q&AName: Amy Findlater
Job title: Co-founder
What is your business called? Company Bakery
Where is it based? Eskmills, Musselburgh
What does it produce/do?
While we do a lot more, at the heart of our business is a wholesale sourdough and pastry bakery.
To whom does it sell?
To everyone. From customers in our café in Musselburgh, to Michelin-starred restaurants, to some of Scotland’s best coffee shops, to multinational brands.
How many employees?
What attracted you to your current role?
My passion is creating places people love spending time. I spent a lot of time interrogating how our customers engage with the business at every stage, whether that’s buying their first loaf of bread right through to when they receive their invoice or chatting to their friends about us.
What were you doing before?
Way, way back I worked in casting for television in London, before going off to study and work in wine, via working for Melbourne Theatre Company, in Australia. That led to moving to Edinburgh to open my other business, wine bar Smith & Gertrude, with my husband Duncan. Two years later we started Company Bakery with Hollie, and Ben.
What do you least enjoy?
My strength doesn’t lie in managing people … there are others in the company who are far better at it than me.
What do you consider to be the main successes of the business?
We have grown from a team of five people to 90-plus in the last 10 years, while our wholesale customer base has grown from our own three hospitality businesses to now supplying 350-plus across Scotland.
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But I’m most proud of the way we’ve grown, as it’s happened mostly organically through word of mouth, not from actively selling or marketing ourselves.
What are your ambitions for the firm?
Keep doing what we’re doing.
What are the challenges facing the sector and market, and what could be done to overcome or address these?
We sell predominantly to hospitality businesses, who face rising rents, rates, VAT, higher employment costs and so much more.
While the sector is full of boundlessly inventive, innovative – and crucially optimistic – people, it’s a lot of fires to be fighting at once. There needs to be long-term, joined-up thinking from national and local governments.
Problems like AI’s impact on the job market, NEETs and the decline in social cohesion do not exist in a vacuum. Hospitality, if supported, can help tackle society’s wider issues.
What single thing would most help?
It would be reassuring to know there was someone who understands the potential of UK hospitality involved in high-level economic discussions within government.
What is the most valuable lesson you have learned?
I tend to overthink things. This is something I'm trying to consciously improve. I need to get out of my own way sometimes.
What was your best moment?
When we moved the bakery to Eskmills and opened our own café and created a space that reflected what Company Bakery was about. To be able to welcome the public into Company Bakery, to see the skilled work our bakers, production and operations team do day in, day out, and smell the delicious freshly baked goods coming out of the oven has been special.
What has been your most challenging moment in life or business?
Running a business is always challenging, but personally nothing compares to parenting small children whilst experiencing the loss of a parent. Perspective is everything.
How do you relax?
It’s nothing groundbreaking, but I love yoga, reading and walks on the beach with friends.
What phrase or quotation has inspired you the most?
“Business, like life, is all about how you make people feel. It’s that simple, and it’s that hard.”
What is the best book (fiction or non-fiction) you have ever read? Why is it the best?
I love reading and could suggest many fiction books, but I would have to say Danny Meyer’s Setting the Table. I read this before starting Smith & Getrude. His take on what hospitality is was very aligned to what I feel hospitality should encompass. This became a shining light behind Smith & Gertrude, and in many ways, Company Bakery.
Where do you find yourself most at ease?
Chatting, eating and drinking with my closest friends.
If you weren’t in your current role, what job would you most fancy?
I’m pretty happy being part of two businesses I love, but I do sometimes miss working in the arts.
What countries have you most enjoyed travelling to, for business or leisure, and why?
Travel has had a big influence on our tastes and approach, particularly trips to Italy and California. But living and working in Melbourne and experiencing their amazing level of hospitality, quality of food and drinks, and general attitude to making this next-level experience feel accessible and open to everyone spurred us on to achieve that ourselves back in the UK.