"The Quality Food Awards is a great award to get involved with. The knowledge and skills of the judges are many and varied and the combination creates a robust and fair judging session. So if you have an amazing product and it deserves recognition, it will certainly gain that. If the product requires further development, it is a great way to receives constructive feedback for improvement. When I initially entered my products, I didn't make it to the final, but now my products are well received and the feedback is mostly positive and always valuable."

Can you tell us about the founding story of Good Grain Bakery and how it all began?

I started Good Grain Bakery due to my own dietary issues and restrictions. I craved real, freshly baked artisan bread made without wheat and unappealing additives and preservative. I was disappointed to see what the major retailers and brands were offering so that lead to teaching myself to bake and starting to solve my own problem.

What motivated you to create your award-winning bread?

I realised that I was my own customer and it soon became apparent that there were many others who also longed for genuine bread made using a traditional fermentation method and baking process.

The ethos behind Good Grain Bakery is that we only use a handful of high quality ingredients to create bread made without the 14 top allergens, additives and preservatives.

How does Good Grain Bakery differentiate itself from other producers in this industry?

The challenges we face working with smaller scale production and the cost of gluten free grains is much higher than that of wheat products. This makes our products slightly higher priced than the average free from bread since we don’t used semi- synthetic fillers such as HPMC that aerate the products to create a longer shelf life, lighter crumb structure and the resemblance of a ‘regular wheat’ loaf of bread and mouth feel. Having said that, we’ve maintained competitiveness with other artisan bakeries in the UK. It had taken some time to educate and inform consumers with our point of difference. Our mission will continue to be to grow the range with integrity and thrive to produce wholesome and delicious genuine bread.

What challenges did you face in developing your product, and how did you overcome them?

When I first started developing my recipes, most of my family and friends thought that I was taking my ‘hobby’ a step too far. I went into hyper focus mode and spent hours on end when my children were at nursery/school or asleep developing and creating my recipes and increasing my own knowledge of baking and free from baking. I used to make wheat bread for my family and friends but felt a little left out when I couldn’t enjoy the fruits of my labour. It was at that point that I went on the mission to want to learn how to bake gluten free without using eggs and other allergens. I managed to get hold of Hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC E464) and CMC (Carboxymethyl Cellulose E466) and taught myself about this functional ingredient. It soon became apparent that this was an industry staple as it is the most commonly used ingredient in both free from baking and vegan products.

Could you walk us through the process of creating your first product, from conception to production?

Initially I found the general attitude towards the concept a bit mixed. People used to ask me how ‘the bread was coming along’ rather than ‘recipes development and business’. A few others kindly pointed out that I had no relevant experience in running a business, working in a bakery and if there was such a thing as free from bread made without additive and preservative that the ‘bigger’ companies would already be doing it. Fortunately, my family were rather more supportive and didn’t mind me turning my home kitchen into a micro- bakery with mini mixers and mini provers occupying any and every free surface.

Once I completed my food safety course, I had my kitchen certified by the local authorities and started selling my products to local businesses and tweaking the recipes based on feedback. My recipes evolved, my online shop opened, my marketing skills developed and I had my proof of concept on a shoestring. My daughters were really young at the time but they loved and embraced being in tow of me baking, pitching, photographing, delivering and generally selling this miracle bread.

Once I managed to secure funding for larger scale production and relevant certification, I set up my own accredited bakery. Once we outgrew that space, I moved production to a co- manufacturer based in London. At first, I was nervous about letting go of some element of control but fortunately I work very closely with both our suppliers and the bakery team and I can wholeheartedly say that they produce amazing results every time.

How did winning an award at the UK Quality Food and Drink Awards impact your business?

Winning awards for any size business is an immense achievement and having that recognition within the industry is the most valuable marketing tool. It’s a great opportunity for PR and raising the profile of the business.

What sets your products apart from traditional alternatives?

Our product range has continued to develop over the years and maintained its values of clean label and wholesome. I am an advocate of a simple ingredient list and with that in mind, all of my development work is also free from gums and mostly sourdough based.

How does Good Grain Bakery ensure the quality and consistency of its products?

I work very closely with both my supplier and manufacturer and when something does not go to plan, we work together to resolve issues and put theories to the test. Scaling up production hasn’t been as straight forward as I had initially thought it would be but the learning has enriched our knowledge more than I expected.

What advice would you give to other producers looking to enter the UK Quality Food and Drink Awards?

The Quality Food Awards is a great award to get involved with. The knowledge and skills of the judges are many and varied and the combination creates a robust and fair judging session. So if you have an amazing product and it deserves recognition, it will certainly gain that. If the product requires further development, it is a great way to receives constructive feedback for improvement. When I initially entered my products, I didn't make it to the final, but now my products are well received and the feedback is mostly positive and always valuable.

What inspired you to participate in the awards, and what benefits have you gained from the experience?

Traction and insight. I love receiving feedback from the other judges. You may find yourself getting a response from the buyers you’ve sent the same email to countless times.

How did winning a Q affect Good Grain Bakery's future plans and strategies?

Winning awards is a great way of building and maintaining a premium brand. Industry experts who do not know you or your products verify the nature of your products and commend it for its quality. The credibility you gain form it is the most valuable asset for your products/brand.

Can you share any insights into consumer trends that influenced the development of your products?

I always make sure that I respond to all my customers. I also take into consideration their requests. Whilst I don’t alter my recipes frequently, I look at the most consistent requests and develop new products with that demand in mind. This means not taking things personally and actually being grateful to customers taking the time to reach out and contribute to the insight. I also look at market data trend and use my intuition to continue fulfilling the demand. Whilst I am my own customer, I have also noticed that more and more customers are seeking healthier or wholesome alternatives. Our new sourdough range has been developed with gut health in mind and all of the new product development has derived from this principle.

What role does sustainability play in Good Grain Bakery's operations and product development?

We use the same suppliers as our co-manufacturs and backhaul all of our supplies and deliveries on the infrastructure of their business. The partnership works well since our product range compliment what we can as a group offer other businesses. We also use UK suppliers and all of our products are currently produced in the UK .

How does Good Grain Bakery maintain a balance between innovation and tradition in its product range?

We have taken the simplicity and basic process of baking a loaf of bread and translated that across to gluten free bread. We have modified some of the steps but the fundamentals are all very much the same as a traditional loaf of real bread and sourdough bread.

What advice would you offer to aspiring food entrepreneurs who are just starting their journey?

Do not wait for anyone’s approval because you will not get it. If you have spotted an opportunity or a gap on the market, do your research and put the concept and yourself proudly out there. Be resilient to working and thinking outside of the box and like with anything good and worthwhile, it won’t be an easy overnight gain or success. Make sure you have fun learning the ropes because there will be some tedious and long draining moments. The entrepreneur roller coaster is definitely a thing and personally I’ve had and still have moments where I doubt myself but it keeps me in check. There will be a lot of rejections and frustrations but consistency and persistence are what converts those ‘no’ into a ‘yes’.

I would also add to that the knowing your market and category is also a very useful. I’ve dipped between free-from and bakery buyers and its only when the buyer for the two categories are the same that I’ve got a look in and secured listings.

How do you envision the future of Good Grain Bakery and its product offerings?

With the integrity, I am developing my range and creating more ambient products with better life and would like to expand into other categories.

Could you share any upcoming projects or new product developments that Good Grain Bakery has in the pipeline?

All I can say that we are launching new products this year and I think our customers will be delighted with the new offerings.

Where can people purchase your product?

We are available via our website: https://www.goodgrainbakery.com/collections/all 

Also available in many independent stores in London.

We are expanding our distribution since we will be working with a leading premium food distributor in the UK. Also available in Harrods, Planet Organic, Wholefoods Market, Abel & Cole and Ocado.

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Tara Taylor recently featured in our brand new podcast, QsCast, speaking from experience as both an entrant and judge in the Quality Food Awards. You can listen to Episode 1 here.

2024 entries are open for the Quality Food Awards until Friday 14 June. Browse our extensive range of categories here.