Funding secured for nut-free bakery business

Plans for a new bakery business have been given a welcome boost after securing the backing of NatWest and Finance Wales.

The brainchild of former Avana Bakeries and Memory Lane Cakes managing director, Mike Woods, The Just Love Food Company has been set up after identifying a gap in the market for the supply of nut-free bakery products.

After struggling to find products on the market suitable for his two children with nut allergies, Mike decided to use his considerable experience of the food sector to establish the niche business.

Mike Woods, managing director of The Just Love Food Company, said: “Since my children were diagnosed with severe nut allergies in 2001, I have struggled to find suitable food products on the market dedicated to nut allergy sufferers. My wife and I found it particularly difficult when it came to sourcing birthday cakes as all supermarket birthday cakes carry warnings that make the products ‘not suitable for nut allergy sufferers’. Faced with this ongoing battle and equipped with over 20 years experience in the food industry, I decided last year that it was time to put it right. The Just Love Food Company has been set up to provide a food solution to nut allergy sufferers.”

The start-up business, which will initially focus on supplying children’s celebration cakes, has now received £150,000 funding using the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme (EFG), secured by Natwest, to provide essential working capital to help set up the business.

Martyn Bale, senior relationship manager at NatWest, said: “The Just Love Food Company is the result of great vision and forward thinking and the funding we have provided will enable the company to take advantage of its entry into the market and expand in line with their future growth plans. We are very happy to provide the financial support and look forward to working with the company over the forthcoming months.”

The company has also received £250,000 debt and equity from Finance Wales which will ensure the business has sufficient funds to pursue its business growth strategy to branch out into different markets and product ranges, as well as business advice from Berry Smith Solicitors and Graham Paul Chartered Accountants.

Neil Maguinness, portfolio manager at Finance Wales, said: “We’re please to be investing in The Just Love Food Company which has identified a niche in a growth area of the food market. Identifying such gaps and developing innovative products to fulfill customer needs is paramount for any business, but particularly a start-up seeking growth opportunities. Finance Wales is pleased to be working with such a forward looking management team.”

Mike added: “Identifying and sourcing the funding for the business has been critical. The business support from all of our advisors was crucial, as was the investment and funding from Finance Wales and Natwest. Without this support Just Love Food would just be a dream and fortunately it is now becoming a reality.”

Part of the funding from both organisations has been used to secure a factory for the production of the cakes. After looking at 32 different venues, a unit has been selected on Oakdale Business Park, near Blackwood, which will be leased from Caerphilly Borough Council. The 12,500 square foot unit is now in the process of being transformed to equip the bakery machinery.

Continued Mike: “We searched the breadth of Wales to find a suitable venue for our factory. One of our key requirements was securing a site that had never handled nuts. While we looked at some factories that were already kitted out for our requirements, we couldn’t guarantee that these sites had never handled nuts, so we decided to go for a unit that was only five years old and had previously been used for storage of non food items.  The unit is currently being kitted out with new state-of-the-art equipment and in keeping with our nut-safe promise it’s not just our recipes that have no nuts, our staff, visitors and suppliers will not be permitted to bring nuts on site.” 

For further information on this press release, please contact freshbaked PR at pr@freshbaked.co.uk. freshbaked PR is a Cardiff based public relations agency which represents a number of private and public sector organisations in the Cardiff, Swansea and Bristol business communities, as well as Newport in south Wales, home of golf’s 2010 Ryder Cup at the Celtic Manor Resort Hotel. For clients based in Cardiff PR agency services are provided from the Head Office in The Maltings.