How 10,000 custard tarts have proved a tasty recipe for success
From initial success to struggling through Brexit and the pandemic, Nata & Co owner Filipe Brito tells how his Portuguese bakeries are doing a roaring trade – including selling upwards of 10,000 custard tarts every week. Ed Gilbert reports
THE Portuguese custard tart, also known as the pastel de nata, is one of the ultimate baked goods.
The combination of crisp and flaky filo pastry, silky and wobbly egg rich custard spiked with cinnamon, and a bronzed toasty top is an absolute corker.
And when it comes to Cardiff’s Portuguese bakeries, Nata & Co serve some of the best custard tarts around.
With three branches in Cardiff and one in Bath that employ 30 people, they sell a staggering 10,000 to 12,000 custard tarts a week.
“Once we sold 700 at the Castle shop in one day when it was the Champions League Final,” said Nata & Co’s owner Filipe Brito.
Filipe, from Lisbon, said: “It’s probably one of the best cakes in the world – the balance, the size, the sweetness, I think it’s perfect,” he said.
Baking is very much in Filipe’s blood.
“My background is as a baker. We have a family business in Portugal. With my sister, my father. Basically, I’ve baked all my life since I was 17,” he said.
Nowadays, the family business is run by Filipe’s sister as he moved to Cardiff in 2012 to set up Nata & Co.
“I came because I started the business with another guy who was studying here. We met in Portugal and he invited me a lot of times to come and open a bakery.”
Nata & Co initially started by supplying cafes, restaurants and delis but after just a few months his business partner left the company.
“We started first at Splott market, selling some bread, the natas and the custard doughnuts on the weekends.
“Then I opened the shop on Clifton Street to the public and that’s when I started to make a little bit of money and grow the business.
“To be honest, business was very good for the first three or four years. We did well when we opened in the Bay, after that near the Castle was the right decision again. After two or three years we opened in a small kiosk in the St David’s Centre.”
He added: “We do everything from scratch and we don’t use any products to keep the bread fresh for a week or two weeks.
“If you go to Portugal every corner has a bakery and everybody does it pretty much the same way. It’s not like it’s a family secret or whatever.”
When asked specifically about their signature custard tarts, Filipe added: “We do them in the most traditional way. And basically you can see the recipes online so it’s not a huge secret. I think the secret is the way you do it. We have experience. We have the right skills and the right conditions.”
While Nata & Co grew steadily for its first few years, things have been a lot more of a struggle since Britain decided to depart the EU.
“Basically we did OK till 2017. After that we’ve struggled and done our best to survive,” said Filipe.
He isn’t sure why business tailed off, but he has his suspicions.
“It’s probably because a lot of people left – Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. It could be other things – the people from the UK probably lost some confidence.
“I know after Brexit we started to have more difficulties and especially after Covid it’s been even more difficult, that’s why we have struggled a little bit for the last three or four years.”
During the pandemic, Nata & Co was particularly affected by the number of people working from home instead of the city centre as well as the drop off in tourists.
“We noticed it especially in the Capitol shopping centre, because there’s a lot of people working in offices in that area and they started to work from home. In the castle shop, we struggled as well because we lost a lot of tourists.”
Thankfully, business has started to recover lately.
“This summer, the tourists have started to come back a little bit. Not the sales we used to have before but it’s improved a little bit with some tourists and people back into the offices as well,” said Filipe.
“I can’t complain too much because what the government did for the business was huge and I think the only reason we can still keep running is because of the support the government gave to us.”
Earlier this year, Nata & Co opened in Bath and whilst he hopes to open more shops in England if the right investment comes along, he sees a lot of the business’s future in online sales.
“I think online is going to have a huge, huge role in the company. We started to sell online in Cardiff during Covid and we did OK.
“But what we are trying right now is selling natas, drinks and hampers online nationally.”