Artisan baker is making some dough

DARLINGTON’S Clervaux artisan bakery and cafe is the kind of place that every town should have. And Rick McCordall’s plan could see many more springing up across the region, serving handmade breads, tasty savouries and scrumptious scones.

When the bakery opened in Coniscliffe Road in September 2010, it won plaudits as much for its commitment to providing work experience for young people with learning and behavioural problems as it did for the quality of its croissants.

There was a lot to like about a cafe that had its own onsite bakery and used organic flour, free-range eggs and locallysourced produce.

The only problem was that it didn’t make any money.

When its backers the Clervaux Trust undertook a restructuring as part of a costcutting exercise in 2012, the bakery was deemed surplus to requirements.

Last summer, Mr McCordall, who had managed the bakery on behalf of the trust, was on the verge of moving to a new challenge in Newcastle, when he had a change of heart.

He paid the trustees a nominal fee and borrowed £300,000 to set up Olivia’s Artisan Foods Limited, which launched in September.

“The bakery and cafe were losing money, so it was a risky move,” says Mr McCordall, a successful entrepreneur, who has run a holiday cottage lettings business as well as a marketing and PR agency.

“Because I had been here since 2010, I felt I knew what I needed to do to make it viable.

“We are now on plan to be making a profit within six months. The original purpose of this place was to provide therapeutic activity for Clervaux Trust students and also to create a community resource selling good quality food. But it became very clear in its existing structure it was going to be very difficult for it to become viable.”

The change that Mr McCordall has wrought is founded on basic business principles.

“It is simply economies of scale,” he explains.

“I have set up satellite cafes supplied with bread and food from here.”

Branches have been opened in Thirsk and Northallerton, and a Stokesley outlet is due to open in the new year.

Annual turnover is predicted to rise from £250,000 last year, to more than £1m by the end of 2013. By January there will be about 50 staff on the books.

The Darlington base will retain the Clervaux Bakery and Cafe moniker, while the others will trade as Olivia’s, named after Mr McCordall’s three-year-old daughter.

“The research I did before we set up was that we had to offer good quality in order to compete. I was surprised how expensive it was to run. The cost of operating bread ovens alone is hefty, and artisan bread is a very labourintensive product.

“The food that we sell is largely to a fairly affluent audience of people in the 55- plus age bracket. I looked for locations where we could access that market. For example, this probably wouldn’t work on Stockton High Street.”

OPENING in Northallerton meant turnover doubled but costs did not. Sales rose as its reputation grew in Darlington.

“I am determined to run this business by having an ethos that treats the customers, students, environment and staff responsibly. We are not going to be making loads of money,” adds Mr McCordall.

“We will consolidate next year and then decide whether to expand the business further, which will require funding.

Student Saskia Khan at Clervaux Bakery Darlington

“To do that we would have to move the central bakery out of here and find new premises.

“But I don’t want to lose the artisan nature of the food and bread that we sell. There is a tricky dilemma that if you choose to grow you start to become more of factory and dilute the very reason people buy your product in the first place.

“I am also very keen to maintain the social element, so we still work with Clervaux students and also in partnership with the charity Thirsk Clock, which provides work experience for young people.

“We can help these young people without it having anything but a positive impact upon the operation of our business. That is important.

“Before we opened here I knocked on a few doors in the town and said we are a charity and thinking about setting this up. They said: ‘We don’t really care that you are a charity. If you sell good coffee and good sandwiches we will buy from you.’ So, I have always tried to focus on the product.”

What does the term ‘artisan bread’ mean?

“The way that we make it that we are only using flour, yeast salt and water,” says Mr McCordall says. “The flour we use is organic. It is baked on trays and hand-shaped. We haven’t got a conveyer belt.”

At peak output head baker Scott Hayward and his team can turn out 1,300 items a day, of which 800 are loaves of bread.

MR McCordall continues: “We are appealing to a customer who wants to pay a little bit more for something better. The bread is almost the loss-leader. We put it in the windows to get people to stop and look because it is visually stunning. Basically, it tastes great, but isn’t very profitable.”

Big sellers at the moment include homity pie, made of wholemeal pastry, caramelised onions, cheese and potato, which sells for £2.45; and a black pudding brunch; a savoury stack that consists of a slice of toasted black pudding flavoured bread, topped by a rasher of rare breed bacon, an organic poached egg from Piercebridge Farm and mushroom for £4.99.

What does Mr McCordall think of all conquering North- East bakery chain Greggs?

“Greggs have a place in the market, but they don’t offer any threat to us,” he says.

“The only thing that is the same about us and Greggs is the word ‘bakery’. What we sell is completely different.”

Would people who now shop at Greggs change their buying habits if they tasted one of his sausage rolls made with meat from Taste Tradition in Thirsk?

Mr Mccordall responds: “I don’t think they care. They just want flavour at low cost.

“We have already worked with Education Village in Darlington and we’re looking to do more to help young people understand what goes into their food.

“But first and foremost the business has to work commercially or else we don’t exist. It is simple as that.”