New recipe Tobacco Factory to run bakery
THE owners of an award-winning bakery are hanging up their aprons after 10 years of making some of Bristol’s best bread.
Mark and Maria Newman launched Mark’s Bread in a disused car repair garage in North Street and developed it into one of Bristol’s best-loved bakeries.
But a decade on from starting their business, which also comprises a shop and cafe, the couple have decided to call it a day and hand over the keys to the nearby Tobacco Factory.
The south Bristol hub, owned by former Bristol mayor George Ferguson, also runs Five Acre Farm, whose products are sold in the Mark’s Bread cafe.
Maria said the couple “couldn’t have found a better set-up” for the future of Mark’s Bread.
She said: “When we decided to sell on, our main objectives were to ensure that the bakery continued in much the same form and to protect the jobs of our talented staff team.
“We would only sell to a buyer who would understand our busi
ness ethos, maintain and build on it and had good local knowledge.
“It has become apparent via cus
tomer feedback over the years that the bakery is a valued part of the local community, more than just a shop. Increasingly people are valuing local, ethical outlets for goods and services and in the current climate this will only be more so.
“Then along came George Ferguson of Tobacco Factory and Five Acre Farm with an offer, and we couldn’t have found a better set-up to continue with Mark’s Bread.
“We have worked with Tobacco Factory in a number of ways over the years and understand each other well.”
Maria added the “knitting together of Five Acre Farm Shop and Mark’s Bread is a perfect symbiosis”.
She said the couple have been working with Tobacco Factory’s management for months to ensure a “seamless transfer and to ensure no observable changes from a customer point of view”.
George Ferguson added: “It has been great to have developed our local food enterprises alongside Mark’s Bread over the past decade.
“We share Mark and Maria’s ethos and remain happy customers - it is a a tough time for everyone but we love their products and are delighted that they have entrusted us with its future.
“We are fortunate to be taking on a great bakery team which continues under the leadership of head baker Rosana Sanchez Fernandez.”