Cumbria Bakery Scoops Top Accolades

A Kendal-based artisan bakery is celebrating after scooping a host of prestigious, national food accolades and being named overall champion at the 2009 Great Taste Awards held in London last week.

More? The Artisan Bakery in Staveley, won a coveted three-star gold award for its brownie – the ‘Gluten Free Muddee’, which secured the ‘Best Speciality from the Northwest Award’, sponsored by Food Northwest. The company beat off competition from other regional winners from across the UK and Ireland, and was chosen as the food awards’ ‘Supreme Champion’, picking up the winning trophy. It also won three, further one-star gold awards for its English Barmy Beer Bread, Lakeland Treacle Bread and its chocolates, More? Rocks.

The Great Taste Awards is organised by the Guild of Fine Food and is recognised by consumers as a benchmark for speciality food and drink, often described as the ‘Oscars’ of the food world. The winners were announced at Fortnum and Mason in Piccadilly, London, on Monday 6 September 2009.

This year there were more than 4800 products entered by over 1000 companies, and judged by a group of 300 judges, including restaurant critics, fine food retailers, food writers and other industry experts. Over the past five years gold award winners have seen over £2.6 million in additional sales and 20,000 new listings for their products.

More? The Artisan Bakery was also one of three finalists in the 2009 Baking Industry Awards in the Artisanal Bread Award category.

Patrick Moore set up More? The Artisan Bakery in 2006 after a twenty-year career as a renowned chef in some of the Lake District’s finest country houses.

The company creates a range of artisan breads, seasonal desserts and patisserie, realising Patrick’s dream to create real alternatives to mass-produced industrial food.  Originally selling its products at farmers’ markets, food fairs and events, the business has gone from strength to strength. The overwhelming demand for More? products led to the company’s recent move to its new premises in Mill Yard, Staveley and the recruitment of 10 new employees in the last year.

Celebrating the bakery’s success, Patrick said: “We are absolutely thrilled to be recognised in these prestigious, national awards. We are very much a team and everyone works tirelessly, going that extra mile on a daily basis. Winning these awards is the ultimate accolade and it acknowledges the hard work and commitment of everyone involved. Cumbria has the largest number of quality producers in the UK, so this is not only a win for us, but is a feather in the cap for all of the local, speciality producers and the commitment to the fine foods they produce. ”

More? The Artisan Bakery produces an award-winning range of taste driven, premium quality bakery specialities including hand-crafted desserts and patisserie, signature artisan breads, Christmas puddings, Oma’s Stollen, and brownies - More? Muddees.

For further information visit www.moreartisan.co.uk