My cracking career
John’s tasty job as Jacob’s baker
IN 34 years with Jacob’s Cream Crackers, head baker John Roughneen has made around 112 million packs of one of the nation’s favourite snacks.
And he’s also introduced new flavours to its millions of fans.
But far from letting this go to his head, the 58-year-old Cracker King keeps his mind firmly focused on the job in hand.
That’s an awful lot of crackers for one man
It is. I oversee the production of more than half a billion each year, which need 27 lorries daily to get them out of the bakery at Aintree. I’ve been here for years, starting out on work experience and rising to head baker.
Now I’m responsible for creating new recipes and testing them. Every day is different and I get a huge buzz seeing a new product I have developed get on to the supermarket shelves.
I come into work every day wanting to develop that special product that makes a difference. You could say I’m cracker obsessed. Even on holiday I scour the supermarkets and local bakeries to see what’s out there. It’s just as well my family doesn’t mind – they’re used to it.
What’s it like in the Jacob’s factory?
I love the smell at work – it’s strong. My wife works in Aintree as well, at a school, and when I get home from work she can always tell what I’ve been baking that day because the aroma in the air reaches her.
We still prepare each cracker using traditional methods developed in 1885, with 12 layers of pastry going into every cracker. The 90-metre production line is so big someone has to ride a bike from one end to the other to manage temperatures during the three-minute baking time.
It might seem a silly question but do you actually like crackers?
I love them and we eat them all year round at home. My first cracker memory is when we used to stay at my nan’s house, when I was about four, and we used to eat cream crackers with jam and butter on. Now we eat them with cheese at home. At work I have to eat around 20 a day – all with nothing spread on. I always make sure I have a glass of water to hand. There’s a lot of debate as to whether we should taste them with butter or cheese but I need to make sure I know exactly what is going on.
How did you get where you are?
After training and spending four years working as an analytical chemist, I was made redundant and struggled to find work. I decided to go and train as a food chemist on the basis that everyone had to eat.
My lecturer advised me that I would be better off doing bakery as there was more work around. I then went on a six-week placement at Jacob’s Bakery, was given a full-time job – and the rest is history.