Oh crumbs! Brexit takes the biscuit

Producers warn shortbread prices to soar

As a result of Brexit, Mr Dean’s firm has also frozen its £ 3m expansion plan to produce a wider variety of cakes and biscuits, including gluten- free products for customers who are intolerant to ingredients such as wheat.

“It’s not healthy for retail, manufacturing or the consumer,” said the 52-year-old former metalworker.

“It’s a big investment for us but it’s come slap bang in the middle of a moving situation which we have no control over, so it’s not a comfortable place to be.”

Even for a business which has doubled its annual turnover to £8.5m in the past 10 years, the combination of higher costs and continued uncertainty is damaging.

“We’ve not got such a big cushion to ride it out with both of those barrels coming at us,” he said.

A host of dairy products, including cheese and milk, have shot up in price since the vote to leave the EU in June.

Bill Dean’s company has shelved £3m expansion plans due to rocketing costs.

One of the biggest indicators of looming price hikes came last week when Tesco chairman John Allan said a rise in the price of food was “very likely” due to the fall in the value of sterling.

World renowned chocolatier Iain Burnett, who supplies high- end hotels and airlines, said the uncertainty was “painful” for his business.

He said: “Most of the difficulties came within two weeks of the Brexit vote. The combination of all the contributing factors, the biggest of which is currency, has put my costs up by more than a third.

“I bring in the cocoa beans from Belgium where they’re roasted, I have handmade packaging imported from America, these are just a couple of the factors affected by cost.

“What’s going on is quite painful. We’ve absorbed as much of the costs as we can, but there will come a point where just to survive we will have to pass some of it on.”

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