The upmarket bakery chain Gail’s is planning 40 more outlets after sales rose by a fifth last year as it opened 36 new bakeries and sales to supermarkets increased.
Hurrah! I love Gail's, I hope one opens nearer me than Wanstead or Central London!
Speaking at a conference organised by Propel this month, Tom Molnar, who co-founded Gail’s 20 years ago, said the business was “still early in our growth”. He said: “We do have a lot of bakeries now, but it took 20 years to get there. It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t very fast. Twice, we had to stop growing altogether, because we didn’t think that we could be better; we were worried about getting consumed by speed. We’re still early in our growth. You take McDonald’s, Greggs or any other successful food business here in the UK – they operate from thousands of sites, and we’re still below 200.”
Yes, because people don't appreciate quality and don't want to pay what it costs. They'd rather eat cheap - which is why Greggs ans McDonalds are so ubiquitous on every high street.
The rapidly expanding chain has become an unlikely political bellwether – used by the Liberal Democrats to help identify areas where voters might be ready to switch from the Conservatives.
Eh?
Its expansion has also spurred local protests, including a heated one in Walthamstow, east London, where a petition to stop a Gail’s opening was signed by hundreds of residents. A new branch in Brighton was spray-painted with the world “boring” and a large image of a penis, according the local newspaper the Argus.
Who could possibly object to a bakery?
7 comments:
Who could possibly object to a bakery? Carnivores?
People will object to everything (and under planning law even spurious objections are taken seriously).
I found a Gail's in Knutsford, but that town also has a Booths, the "Waitrose of the North" so was already a tad more upmarket than say Altrincham.
Well, exactly!
That needs to stop!
I was hoping there would be a Booths in York, so I could check it out this weekend, but sadly, no...
I thought your question was a rhetorical one; surely you need look no further than the fact the chain was founded by two Israeli nationals, baker Gail Mejia, who moved to London in her early twenties, and entrepreneur Ran Avidan
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