Suffolk bakery's 'special night' after scooping prestigious national award

At a ceremony held in London on October 13, Pump Street Bakery in Orford won the Best Producer category at the Observer Food Monthly Awards 2022.

The event, which was hosted by food critics Jay Rayner and Grace Dent, celebrates the best of British food from across the country.

Reflecting on the triumphant night, owner Joanna Brennan said: "It was really exciting.

Pump Street Bakery in Orford (Image: Pump Street Bakery)

"We had to keep it secret that we were going because it was embargoed.

"So myself and our office manager, Di, went to London for the ceremony which was held in Covent Garden and it was a really lovely evening.

"I got to meet a lot of really lovely people in the food business and celebrate with them. It was a really special night".

Pump Street Bakery opened in 2010 and then, after several years of success, began making and selling their own chocolate.

Joanna said: "We didn't plan to make chocolate. When we opened, we were a small team of about five people - two people baking bread and pastry and a few people working in the shop.

"Then, over time, it's just gradually grown from that to include a team of people who make chocolate when we separated it out to another site to make the chocolate.

"It's grown a lot, but always quite organically."

Pump Street's chocolate is made from beans imported directly from farms all around the world.

In 2017, the production of the chocolate moved to a site at Bentwaters Park in Rendlesham so the business could meet its chocolate-making ambitions.

Joanna continued: "When you have been going for as long as we have, you know, we kind of just continue doing what we do, because that's the way we want to do things.

"Our commitment to quality and the way we do that sustains us.

"It's amazing when you see that that resonates with other people and they recognise that we're going above and beyond a lot of the time to try to keep things as perfect as they possibly can be.

"It's a huge recognition for the team for all their hard work."

After scooping the award, Pump Street's focus turns to Christmas, which is one of the busiest times of the year along with Easter, Joanna said.

On winning the award, she added: "We are so grateful and really excited.

"We're now looking forward to Christmas - it's a really big time for us, right now.

"We're busy making Father Christmas's out of chocolate and starting to think about making panettone and pies and all of those lovely Christmassy things.

"The Father Christmas's will be ready in the next week or so, so by the beginning of November we start selling Christmas chocolate and then for baked goods, it's more like December 1."

Pump Street supplies chocolate to 300 stores across the nation, including many spots in Suffolk, as well as having a market in America, China and Japan.

The bakery is open from Wednesday to Sunday and the chocolate shops are open each day of the week.