Grandma Wild's

A family bakery in West Yorkshire famous for its traditional biscuits is now winning orders from overseas where its old-fashioned recipes are finding a brand new market.

Grandma Wild’s modern bakery based in Steeton has historic credentials which go back more than a hundred years when Annie Wild, the current owners’ great grandmother, ran a bakery shop and B&B in the seaside resort of Morecambe.

Now the company’s traditional recipes, many handed down from the Victorian ancestor who is its namesake, are generating orders not only from Europe but from as far away as the Far East.

Patrick Lynch, sales manager, said: “At Grandma Wild’s we work hard at remaining true to the home-baked taste of the original recipes,some of them created over a hundred years ago. But being true to the past doesn’t mean we can’t look to the future and we are now exploring overseas markets for our biscuits.

“We started working with UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) with the Passport to Export programme which lays the foundations for international business with useful export information and advice. During the course of the programme we found UKTI’s food and drink specialist, Elsa Fairbanks, was particularly helpful in flagging opportunities such as the funding available from Yorkshire Forward’s Targeted Export Support Scheme (TESS). We were able to use this funding assistance to attend the International Sweet and Biscuit Fair (ISM) in Cologne early this year where we joined the British stand and also had the services of an official interpreter on hand.

”At Cologne we were the new kids on the block but we generated a lot of interest, coming back with more than forty inquiries and orders from as far away as Japan, China and Australia as well as Europe.”

The company recently attended a UKTI sponsored ‘Meet the Buyer’ event in Manchester where the Grandma Wild’s brand was introduced to a Taiwanese distributor who was very interested in the products and is currently in talks with the company.

Mr Lynch added: “UKTI is helping us raise our international profile. We always knew that our traditional products hade plenty of overseas potential, so it’s good to know that there are some supports in place to help us realise that potential. While we attend the International Food Exhibition in London each year and we are already doing some business in the US, taking our products to overseas trade shows is a new experience and one we hope to repeat. It’s a great marketing device and also a fantastic networking opportunity. You also get a chance to measure up against the competition.”

Elsa Fairbanks is the food and drink sector specialist for UK Trade & Investment and she works alongside many similar companies across the region.

Elsa said: “The Yorkshire and Humber region has a wealth of niche food and drink companies which have an international appeal. Part of my job is helping them to translate that appeal into real business in a highly competitive market. Grandma Wild’s was one of a number of food and drink companies from the region that went to the Cologne trade fair and most of them came back with orders or with strong possibilities for future business. UKTI has a range of export services from advice and consultation to funding opportunities that can support companies like these in their bids for overseas business.”

For further information on this company please visit www.grandmawilds.co.uk.