Known as the King of Doughnuts, we speak to Founder and household baking name, Matthew Jones, about the Bread Ahead story as it goes from strength to strength in Dubai and expands rapidly throughout the region.
BAKING ROYALTY
Based at the centre of London’s vibrant food scene in the renowned Borough Market, Bread Ahead has become a destination for foodies across the globe.
The modern British bakery is owned and run by Matthew Jones, who founded Bread Ahead in 2013 with a mission to bring quality baking to the masses.
“Initially, I began with a market stall, baking bread in a friend’s bakery,” he recalls.
“Bread Ahead started with just three products – white sourdough, wholemeal sourdough, and chocolate brownies. It was very simple, but over the years we expanded our range. Our speciality is sourdough, but our doughnuts are also a significant highlight, often described as world-rocking.”
From its humble beginnings, the company has risen like a loaf of bread to enjoy global expansion and sales success, growing from a team of four to 135 staff members.
The brand has since opened a further four sites across the capital, including on Pavilion Road in Chelsea and a large 14,000 square foot (sqft) bakery in Wembley Park.
GLOBAL EXPANSION
Bread Ahead has also recently expanded into the Middle East, where it now has locations in Dubai, Jeddah, and Riyadh.
The Middle East expansion has been highly successful, although it initially took the company time to find the right partner.
“We eventually partnered with the Bugshan family, which led to the opening of several bakeries across the region. Our first location in Jeddah marked a significant milestone,” Jones states.
Over the next three years, Bread Ahead intends to open an additional 35 bakeries in the region, expanding into Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, and other cities.
There are also advanced plans in Asia, where it aims to have opened 50 bakeries by the end of 2025.
“We have signed our first market there, which will be revealed soon. We are looking at Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, and possibly India,” reveals Jones.
Bread Ahead is additionally planning to open a bakery in New York next year and is currently searching for a site in either Manhattan or Brooklyn.
“This will be a significant step in our growth. Finding the right location is crucial, much like how Borough Market was for us.”
IN-PERSON AND ONLINE WORKSHOPS
After securing its first site in Borough Market, the Baking School was launched by Bread Ahead in 2014, designed to show the public just how easy baking good bread can be.
The school is home to ever-popular workshops led by Bread Ahead’s masterful tutors, who offer an insight into proper artisan baking.
With a variety of bread, pastry, cake, and doughnut making classes to join in, beginners and seasoned bakers alike can learn from the experts’ experience and guidance to develop the techniques and skills they have honed over the years.
“We focus heavily on education, with teaching baking being central to our mission,” outlines Jones.
As well as hosting weekly in-person workshops at the Baking School, Bread Ahead celebrates seasonality, fundamental cooking skills, and cuisines from around the world through its online culinary school, The Kitchen, whose expert chefs run a number of live online workshops.
In the UK, Bread Ahead now has over 40 different in-person and online baking and cooking workshops, along with a wide selection of live online workshops in Dubai.
“Our online baking classes are an extension of our COVID-19 pandemic pivot when we took our teaching online,” he tells us.
Indeed, Jones himself ran free daily online baking classes for a whole year in lockdown, which proved to be extremely popular and, at one point, had 8,000 live viewers.
“It’s a way to connect with a global audience and keep them engaged with the brand. I see online classes becoming increasingly important as we expand this offering.”
“We focus heavily on education, with teaching baking being central to our mission”
Matthew Jones, Founder, Bread Ahead
SOCIAL MEDIA REPUTATION
Bread Ahead’s social media presence and reputation also exploded during the pandemic, helping it to become a global brand as people travel from far and wide to try the company’s iconic baked goods.
“As travel resumed, we saw customers from all over the world visiting our Borough Market and Pavilion Road bakeries,” Jones observes.
“People come from places like Mexico, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and the US, particularly for our famous crème brûlée doughnut.”
In Borough Market alone, Bread Ahead is known to easily sell over 1,000 Crème Brulee doughnuts in one day and more than 20,000 in a month – and that’s just one of its flavours.
Despite its international attention and presence, however, Jones remains very grounded.
“I am in the bakery every day, connected to the business. It’s essential to stay in touch with the community, staff, and operations,” he concludes.
“Being hands-on is crucial for a bakery’s success, ensuring I can taste, experience, and contribute to its development and growth.”
