The Bottled Baking Co. begins recruitment drive as firm doubles in size

The owner of a high-end baking company which sells ready-to-make cake, cookie and brownie mixes in glass bottles, is poised to more than double the size of the business in 2022 after leaving his full-time job.

Greg Fraser, founder of The Bottled Baking Co., employs four people at the head office in Church Fenton, near Leeds, and eight at its packing site in Driffield, East Yorkshire.

However, growing demand for the company’s products means that Mr Fraser is looking to recruit for a further 11 roles at Church Fenton and four more packing staff in Driffield.

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Mr Fraser is also looking for new headquarters closer to Leeds following the unexpected success of the firm’s Doggy Baking Co. division, which was launched as an April Fool’s Day prank last year on Instagram and now accounts for 10 per cent of the total business.

Greg Fraser, founder of The Bottled Baking Co. Picture: Jordan McGibneyGreg Fraser, founder of The Bottled Baking Co. Picture: Jordan McGibney
Greg Fraser, founder of The Bottled Baking Co. Picture: Jordan McGibney

The joke post, which showed a picture of a bottle containing the ingredients to bake dog treats at home, was popular with people keen to know how they could buy the product.

The company ended up launching a range of baking mixes for dogs in response.

With the Driffield site already at capacity, The Doggy Baking Co. products are made in Church Fenton but the firm needs more production space.

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“We now have three different dog baking mixes, which launched in August, and they’ve sold quickly,” Mr Fraser said.

The Bottled Baking Co. plans to more than double its Yorshire workforce in 2022. Picture: Jordan McGibneyThe Bottled Baking Co. plans to more than double its Yorshire workforce in 2022. Picture: Jordan McGibney
The Bottled Baking Co. plans to more than double its Yorshire workforce in 2022. Picture: Jordan McGibney

He added: “They’re listed in Fenwick and some of our other stockists as well. “In January this year, our distributors all listed the doggy mixes too. I think that part of the business is going to grow quite drastically this year.”

The company, which achieved a £900,000 turnover last year, made 130,000 bottles of baking mixes in 2021 but this is set to more than double in 2022 due to organic growth.

The firm is also currently in talks with two large high street retailers who are keen to work with The Bottled Baking Co. to stock own-branded and co-branded products.

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“Our organic growth is driving the need to scale because we are set to double the number of bottles we produce,” Mr Fraser said.

He added: “But if these retailers come on board then we need also to make an extra 150,000 bottles for them alone.”

The Bottled Baking Co. is also about to start Christmas production after orders were significantly delayed last year due to 80 per cent of its staff isolating due to covid.

“It was getting to the point where it was taking five or six weeks to get deliveries out to people by which time they were selling out instantly but we couldn’t refill the shelves,” Mr Fraser said.

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“We lost out and the retailers lost out. That can’t happen again.”

Mr Fraser founded the business in 2016 after a chaotic day of baking with his then two-year-old son as a way of making baking easy with young children.

The baking mixes, which sell for around £10.99 a bottle, are aimed at the gift market.

For the last five years, Mr Fraser has juggled running the business with his full-time job as a business analyst at Sky in Leeds, but he left the role last month to focus on the baking business full time.

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The products are listed in 400 retailers directly including Fenwicks, John Lewis & Selfridges as well as farm shops, delis and garden centres across the UK.

The company’s most popular product is its Seriously Smart Cookies Mix.

There are a number of new product developments in the pipeline, including savoury baking mixes and a subscription model.

The business recently started exporting to Dubai as its first foray into the international market.

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