Thomas the Baker chooses Ambit

Ambit International, which specialises in meeting the production needs of the baking industry, has just concluded a further contract with one of the fastest growing bakery chains in the UK, North Yorkshire-based Thomas the Baker.

The bakery group, which has 31 shops spread largely across England's biggest county - and which is opening new outlets at the rate of one every nine months on average - turned to Ambit International when it wanted to upgrade its bread-making line.

Middlesex-based Ambit International is the exclusive UK and Irish distributor for Werner and Pfleiderer (W&P). The Dutch specialist bread division W&P Haton and the German factory at W&P Lebensmittel both supplied equipment for the bakery.

The order placed through Ambit International was for a complete continental Crustica bread make-up line comprising a divider, a rounder, an intermediate prover and special final moulder. Two Winner double rack ovens and a shock and storage freezer completed the initial supply phase.

It is all part of the on-going expansion at Thomas the Baker, which has seen investment of over £2.5 million (€3.58m) in the last two years. "Our existing bread make-up plant was due for replacement,"​ said managing director John Thomas.

"But we decided not to just look at a straight replacement but to go for something which would offer us more. So we started looking at equipment that could also handle extremely soft dough, which would allow us to add Mediterranean-style products to the range of breads in our shops. We discussed what we needed with Ken Ward, the managing director of Ambit International, and ended up purchasing through W&P Haton.​

"I knew Ken before I set up my own business and it is typical of the baking trade that you deal with people you have known over the years."​It was the W&P Haton 'up-front' attitude, which really appealed to Thomas the Baker with the company, through Ken, bending over backwards to ensure everything went smoothly. "We went over to Holland and spent a couple of days working in their test bakery, reviewing various production options,"​ said Thomas.

"We worked there until we found the equipment we really wanted. And after we had ordered the equipment, but before it was delivered to the bakery, we sent others from our team over so that all the key players knew what to do when the plant arrived in the bakery. All it took to get the old line out and the new one in was one weekend. The whole thing went through virtually seamlessly and we were producing bread off the new plant on the Sunday night.​

"We chose Ambit partly because of our past relationship and partly because of the standard of the equipment they are involved in selling,"​ said Thomas. His company is now set to produce a range of new continental breads for Thomas' shops, which are to be found in the centre of most towns in North Yorkshire and South Teesside - both in the North of England.

The company has also placed a further order with Ambit International for the supply of dough conditioning equipment.

Ward commented: "We knew our agreement with Werner and Pfleiderer would allow UK bakeries to benefit from an extensive product range, one of the biggest in the world. What we have done for Thomas the Baker highlights what the more progressive bakeries are doing."​Ambit International specialises in meeting the production needs of the baking and food related industries. The company provides a semi or fully automated solution for almost any baking application.

Ambit International is the exclusive distributor of German based Werner and Pfleiderer, throughout the UK and Ireland. Werner and Pfleiderer is the largest of the companies within the Horstmann group.

For further information on the company's line of products please email the Ambit team​.