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How Bread Ahead Created A Donut Empire

Bread Ahead's iconic creme brulee doughnut

Bread Ahead

It's the kind of thing business owners dream of; seeing a person arrive straight from the airport, suitcase in hand, desperate to pay for their services.

In Bread Ahead's case, it's a frequent reality. Since 2013, the one-man donut stall-turned-bakery consortium has become an iconic stop in many tourists' London food tours, promising some of the nation's very best sweet treats.

In fact, the flagship (Bread Ahead Borough) has been known to sell over 1,000 Crème Brulee donut in a day – and that's just one flavor from one shop.

In the last ten years Bread Ahead has secured five London outposts – two with large baking schools (Borough and Wembley) and one with its own tea room (Pavillion Road) – as well as four in the Middle East, with plans to launch 35 more in the region over the next three years alone.

Yet, unbeknownst to many, this particular bakery's success came from another's failure.

"I had another bakery business called Flour Power City, and prior to that I was very much a London chef," says founder Matthew Jones. "I worked in the Michelin world in London in the 90s and had a ball of a time!"

Working alongside renowned chefs including Shaun Hill, Simon Hopkinson and John Torode at the likes of Bibendum, Pont de la Tour, and Quaglino's, his career was on the ascent, but the draw of the donut – as it were – was one he couldn't seem to ignore. In particular, the lack of those beloved sweet treats in Borough Market, where locals and tourists alike continued to flock for a taste of the best food and drink London had to offer.

"For me it was always a very important place. One where all the main foodies of London were gravitating to," he says. "Neals Yard Dairy, Brindisa, Monmouth, Ginger Pig, Turnips…they were all there and I wanted to be a part of that, too."

Still, Bread Ahead was not an overnight success. At first Jones made a limited range of baked goods, focused on using seasonal produce and perfecting classic flavors, and hoped his personality would be enough to pull Borough Market's busy hordes in his direction.

Bread Ahead founder Matthew Jones

Iona Kong

"Talking to people is important; I am a good baker and chef and have always enjoyed talking to people," he says. "I am a natural with the customers and creating that vibe and buzz around what we do."

His perseverance and hard work paid off steadily, giving Jones the opportunity to experiment with new flavors (arguably the business' biggest draw for new customers) and products, but it didn't come without its challenges.

"When you are running a successful business everyone wants to know you, but when you are a start-up it is difficult to get anybody to take you seriously," Jones admits. "From suppliers, to banks, to landlords, to everybody, it is hard to get your first break," he says. "Now we have been running over ten years, everyone wants to be my friend!"

Wholesale also played an important role within the business in the early days, allowing Jones to keep momentum up when the Market's footfall faltered. "If we weren't that busy, say Monday to Wednesday, we could take our product out, so we fully utilized our production capacity from day one.

"For the first year I also worked seven days a week – and I often still do. No real secret there, it's just good, old fashioned hard work!"

A selection of Bread Ahead's doughnuts

Bread Ahead

Social media has become just as good for the business as it is for content creators, too. Though the brand has just over 10,000 followers on TikTok, a single video of a customer trying a Bread

"It took me a while to get it," says Jones. "I used to laugh at social media. My wife often reminds me how I used to say that Instagram was a waste of time back when we had 10,000 followers."

Today, that count has reached over 357,000. "It really changed during the pandemic. Suddenly we were getting thousands of followers every day. Now, if we launch a new product on Instagram there will be 200 people queuing up at Borough later that day. It is absolutely phenomenal."

The success of Bread Ahead's growing number of baking schools is yet another testament to its popularity, too. When they launched their first donut workshops – which have since expanded to include Scandinavian and Jewish baking, scone masterclasses, gluten-free workshops, and more – they sold out immediately.

In Jones' calculations, the secret to their success is simply giving people what they want. "From my early days in Borough customers were always very inquisitive and had so many questions about gluten, what is spelt, what is rye and how things were made, so I really wanted to create an environment where I could show people properly," he says. "That's really how it was born."

Bread Ahead Borough can sell thousands of doughnuts in a single day

Bread Ahead

While he says running the business is "relentless", Jones shows no signs of slowing down, either. "I want a full global roll-out. To become a global brand. All corners of the world."

And if those daily suitcase-touting customers are any indication, Bread Ahead has proven itself more than capable.

What Is The Best Way To Minimise Crumbs When Slicing Bread? Part 2

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What is the best way, and best knife to use, to minimise crumbs when slicing bread, particularly wholemeal? (continued)

Robert GrayVia email

For many years, I have used a sharp, finely serrated bread knife. It has been quite acceptably cutting my home-baked wholemeal bread, producing a modest amount of crumbs. But inspired by this question, I experimented and found that our sharp, unserrated carving knife works a lot better. It cuts easily with almost no crumbs. So from now on, our serrated bread knife is relegated to the back of the drawer. The crucial thing seems to be sharpness:…

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&#151; -- Bite into a fresh, crusty baguette and then bite into a slice of Wonder bread, and it'll be immediately clear that there are some major differences at play.

Wonder bread is impossibly soft and pillowy, and that's because of the process used to make it: The flour is treated and softened, and other special chemicals prevent it from drying out.

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