PUTTING OUR MONEY WHERE OUR MOUTH IS
Taken from this month’s Cotswold Life magazine
Awards are a highlight but local producers need our tangible support too!
It’s that time of year again… the Cotswold Life Food & Drink awards. As headline sponsor of the awards for over 10 years, I have seen first-hand the difference a nomination, never mind an actual award, can make to the fortunes of our hard-working and talented local producers.
I’ve also seen how many truly exceptional local producers there are out there that don’t get a mention at the ‘Oscars of the Cotswold food and drink scene’. It’s a bit like working your socks off all year at school and not getting a prize on speech day, or that old chestnut of always the bridesmaid, never the bride.
The point is, awards only tell a part of the story. Success in this industry isn’t measured by the number of accolades on your website – rather it’s the number of people who love what you do and turn up to show their support, whether that’s popping your product in their shopping basket or frequenting your establishment.
My favourite mid-morning haunt, Baker & Graze in Cheltenham, is a case in point. This local eatery is one of the busiest, buzziest cafés-come-bakeries in the area. With a focus firmly on consistency, quality and the customer, Baker & Graze is a refreshing antidote to all the faceless food chains that are devouring up our town centres.
If you’re lucky enough to get a table, you’ll find the food – all wholesome small plates and door-stop sourdough toasts – absolutely spot on for day-time socialising. And whether you’re popping in for coffee, brunch or lunch, I challenge you not to leave without one of Baker & Graze’s Instagrammable pastries – almond croissants the size of pillows or hunks of chocolate-filled banana bread.
When something works this well, there’s a danger it can look all too easy. But as my years working with local producers at our Warner’s stores in the Cotswolds has taught me, to be successful in this industry is tough. Winning an award can of course accelerate matters, but your product has to be consistently top quality, every single time. That’s what the customer expects and it’s how you keep them coming back.
That’s something the team at Baker & Graze seem to have got absolutely right. With a constant focus on quality and execution, they’ve built up a loyal following in Cheltenham, and have started to build new communities of followers with other ventures – Penny Blacks café in Prestbury, Six Chimneys bakery in Cheltenham and now Parade bistro in Charlton Kings – not bad for a company that is only just celebrating its 10th anniversary next year.
As I write, the judges are still deliberating who will be crowned this year’s Cotswold Life Food & Drink Award champions. Whoever the winners are, let’s continue to show our support to all those local producers who deserve to be recognised, award or not – see you for brunch!
My top treats at Baker & Graze
Battenburg cake: forget those ’70s-era, day-glo Mr Kipling cakes, this is a different thing entirely. Beautifully marbled, light as a pillow sponge with just the right amount of icing, finished with a sprinkling of flower petals – perfect!
Raspberry vanilla stuffed almond croissant: why make do with one or the other when you can have all your favourite things in one pastry? That’s what you get with this super-charged croissant, another example of Baker & Graze’s inventive outlook on baking.
Crispy eggs & Marmite soliders: this is the best thing for brunch since, well, sliced bread! Golden-yolked eggs, cooked to perfection, all topped off with the salty hit of Marmite – a great pick me up on a weekend morning.
Find Baker & Graze at 48 Suffolk Road, Cheltenham, bakerandgraze.com