Bake & Take was established in 2013, by two of the UK’s most experienced retail franchise entrepreneurs – Robin Page and Steve Mahon – who bought the master rights for the UK and Northern Ireland. Bake & Take was born out of backWerk in Germany, which was launched in 2001 and is now Europe’s number one self-service bakery with over 350 stores across five countries.
The stores stock over 150 fresh, delicious and inexpensive bakery products, and have access to over 1000. Stores also serve drinks, soups and market leading coffee which customers select on a self-service basis. All products are baked throughout the day and the freshness window on all products is unmatched by other operators. The European business has won many awards including Franchisor of the Year in 2011 and a Franchise Bakery Award in 2013.
Bake & Take currently has one flagship company owned store in Ashton, Manchester, and one franchisee owned store in Sutton. Robin and Steve have spent the last two years developing new supplier relationships, building efficiencies, carrying out customer research and product testing, ensuring the business model and procedures are in place to give UK franchisees the very best platform for success.
Robin Page explains: “After two years of developing and testing our franchise product we are now in a position to fully begin the recruitment process, and the plan is to have 100 new UK stores in the next five years. We are actively searching for high-calibre franchise partners, and are particularly interested in hearing from multi store food or retail operators. There are also single and multi-site area development opportunities in hot spot areas in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.”
Page adds: “We supply every support necessary to help the franchisee succeed from helping with site selection and store design to training and the latest IT equipment and business systems. According to British Baker magazine (2015) coffee shops outperform retail in the UK market. We also have the backing and commitment of backWERK who are one of Germany’s leading franchisors.”
The franchise fee starts at approximately £20,000 plus VAT with fit out and equipment costs varying according to the size of the proposed outlet. The major banks are happy to lend to credible applicants, sometimes up to 70% of total investment, however, we would advise that new franchisees should have a minimum of £75,000 of their own funds. Training will begin with a 4-week intensive training course, which will be split between classroom and in-store. Prior to opening a training program is agreed for all staff.
