Rob Doyle
All articlesFor this edition, we spoke with BAKO customer, 3rd generation baker & owner of Avenue Bakery, Rob Doyle. a community mainstay proving the historic Yorkshire spa town of Harrogate with freshly baked goodness for 80 years - and counting!
Continually moving with the times, whilst keeping to traditional values and baking styles, many beloved Doyle recipes have been passed down through the generations, and some have been slightly tweaked to make the products even more scrumptious and moreish.
Meet the Bakers spoke with Rob Doyle, owner of Avenue Bakery to find out more:
RD: Avenue Bakery was launched in 1943 by my grandfather John William Forrest Doyle. My grandfather originally trained in Northumberland and Scotland to gain experience and to become a Master Baker.
My grandfather and my grandmother Emma worked together in Avenue Bakery, whilst bringing up their family. My grandmother retired in 1992 aged 8 2 , but she did stay living next door to the bakery and popped in every day until the age of 99 years!
Their son, my father John Doyle, joined the family business at just 16 in 1961 and my father attended Thomas Danby College in Leeds for 2 years to gain the finer arts of baking and cake decorating, where he also attained the title of Master Baker.
Avenue Bakery went from strength to strength and survived through recessions and winters of discontent.
I joined the family business in 1984, also at the tender age of 16 . Unfortunately, I never got to work with my granddad, however he did pass on all the secrets of his baking and confectionary making to my father, and we still use them in many of our bakes today.
I have been running the business for the last 16 years, with my wife Jan who joined me at the bakery 10 years ago. Today we employ 7 full time bakers, a bakery assistant, and 10 shop staff.
Our youngest son Ben has also joined the business and he is our Bakery Manager. Ben is our 4th generation baker and hopefully one of our grandchildren will join the business to make Avenue Bakery a 5th generation of bakers...but no pressure!
Rob, Jan and Ben Doyle- still keeping baking in the family
RD: In 1997 Avenue Bakery appeared in TV show Heartbeat for a couple of episodes. The bakery staff were extras in an episode and my father John even had a line to say. Off the back of appearing on the show my father created the commemorative ‘Aidensfield Bun’, and the bun is still available as an occasional weekly special offering.
The Heartbeat episode was titled "Friendly Fire" and featured a subplot in which the infamously scruffy rogue, Claude Greengrass attains the secret recipe for the legendary "Aidensfield Bun" - though it must have ended up in the hands of John Doyle who brought it from the nation's TV screens, into reality!
MTB: What are the biggest changes to the bakery industry you've seen during your career? RD: I think one of the main changes to the bakery industry has been the development of new and innovative machinery that we have brought into the business to help with efficiency, to enable us to make an increased number of products and to cut down the number of hours needed to bake the products, cutting down on shift time.
For example, we used to do 12–14-hour days- we now do 8-10, with one or two less members of staff required. We started using the Koenig machine 7 years ago which has really transformed our business in terms of productivity.
RD: We have a vast range of products, from a standard white breadbun through to cream cakes, and sandwiches. We sell between 250-300 sandwiches a day.
Our signature bake is the French Pastry, it is unique to us and comes with its own history. We also sell a lot of lemon drizzle cakes, averaging 40-50 a week. We also develop and sell a special cake every other week, and a special sandwich too, but apart from that we stick with our existing range.
RD: The French Pastry is our bestselling product, and is somewhere between a biscuit and a shortbread, it is in a circle shape, with good quality jam in the middle. We sell a lot of these, and they are very special, as the recipe was handed down through the generations from my grandfather, he first created the recipe in 1943. We do keep to the old and more traditional recipes as best we can, as they have been selling well for many years and they still do!
MTB: What is the main challenge facing the bakery industry today? RD: It must be the increasing costs of products and energy. Everything is constantly going up and we have had to increase our own prices, but I make sure that we only pass on small increases to our customers, so that it’s easier for them to manage, and we‘ve had no complaints so far.
RD: The partnership with BAKO really works well for us. Our rep, Matt is absolutely phenomenal. He always goes over and above, and we know we can always rely on him to ensure we've got the stock when we really need it.
RD: I would say, have a good long think before you get into the bakery business. It can take over your life, and it is certainly more than just a job. It is important to make sure you're opening a bakery in a good location. You need to be willing to work long hours and ensure that you’re open all day, to meet the needs of modern customers, who are looking for baked goods and sandwiches throughout the day, not just in the morning and at lunchtimes.
So, hard work, a good location and of course a passion for the business, and a baker opening today would be off to a good start.
RD: Yes, we do use social media, Facebook, and Instagram mostly, but probably not as much as we should. I’m not the best with technology so I’m hoping to pass on the responsibility for social media to my son Ben.
RD: Business is very good. In fact, I would say it’s the best it’s been for a long time. I think COVID-19 helped us because we stayed open throughout and we built a waiting area outside, so we had facilities created, and we expanded our customer base on the back of it. We also opened an online shop and delivered to our customers throughout lockdown.
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