A Leeds-based brownie business is celebrating after moving into a new bigger bakery in Morley, Leeds allowing it to triple production and hire more staff.
Brown & Blond is a handmade brownie company founded by George Welton in his mum’s kitchen in 2010 which now makes 60-70 different gooey, rich, chocolatey brownie flavours which are sold in cafes, delis, restaurants and independent retailers. The business has gone from strength-to-strength in recent years prompting it to invest in bigger premises.
The business invested half a million pounds in the new bakery in Morley, Leeds which will allow them to more than triple production from 1.5m to 5m units of its gooey, chocolatey brownies per year. It has also increased its staff numbers from eight to twelve people.
Brown & Blonde moved from a 1,200 square foot site in Wortley after it was ‘bursting at the seams’ to buy their new 6,500 square foot bespoke brownie bakery on Melbourne Street, Morley, Leeds.
Brown & Blond founder George Welton and his wife Lucy got the keys to the Morley bakery in 2022 and it has taken 12 months of painstaking work to completely renovate the almost derelict building.
They have invested more than £350,000 on refurbishments including fitting it out with modern bakery equipment, including a high-tech Food Tools portioning machine which can quickly and efficiently cut trays of brownies into individual portions without creating any waste. Thispiece of kit was funded by the Product, Process and Innovation (PAPI) fund via the University of York.
The business has grown organically over the last 13 years making delicious brownies sold direct to businesses through wholesalers, delis, restaurants and cafes with a direct to consumers business online. Its current turnover is £1.6million which has grown 10-fold increase since 2016.
Brown & Blond founder George Welton said: “Our ambition has always been to make the best and most delicious brownies on the market, and this focus on quality has enabled us to grow organically over the last 13 years.
“It’s taken us 12 months to renovate and fit out our new 6,500 square foot bakery, and we’ve done a lot of it by hand while Lucy was pregnant with our second child, so to finally move in and start producing brownies is amazing.
“When these premises go full steam ahead it can make 100,000 brownies a week which will enable us to grow our stockists across the UK. My ambition is to build the wholesale businesses nationwide which will ultimately create more jobs and investment in the Leeds area.”
Brown & Blond produce three core lines using the original recipe; brownies, blondies and a vegan option with over 60 toppings such as Triple Chocolate, Chocolate Orange, Peanut Butter Cup and Ultimate Vegan Biscoff.
It uses natural ingredients including real butter and Belgian chocolate. The brownies are sent out the same day and will keep fresh for ten days and can be stored in the freezer making it ideal for delis and restaurants.
To make 150,000 brownies a month involves using;
· Three tonnes of butter
· 25 bathtubs of liquid egg
· Three tonnes of Belgian dark and white chocolate
· Five tonnes of sugar
Brown & Blond are also undergoing SALSA (Safe and Local Supplier Approval) accreditation. SALSA is a food-safety standard to reflect both the legal requirements of producers and the enhanced expectations of ‘best practice’ of professional food buyers. It is aimed at micro and small food and drink manufacturers.
Brown & Blond launched in 2010 when George Welton started baking brownies in his mum’s kitchen. Since then, it has baked over 10 million brownies which are sold all over the country in more than 300 delis, restaurants, cafes and coffee shops. They even supply Kings College London with brownies and supply brownie vendors at Winter Wonderland in London.
