It’s been a year of changes for cafe and bakery group, Two Magpies Bakery, as the business focuses on improving efficiencies across the board to combat increasing costs, whilst still achieving a £450k profit.
Two Magpies Bakery Group operates ten bakery/cafes across Suffolk and Norfolk and acquired confectionary company, Hilton Macarons, last year. With the two brands now aligned, Two Magpies has streamlined its business for maximum efficiency in the face of industry challenges.
“The government’s budget left us with a shortfall of £800k that we needed to cover, which forced us to really look at where we were spending money and how we can work more efficiently overall. We have made some large changes to some of our key sites and moved all our production to Walpole, meaning all of our Two Magpies products are now produced in one place,” comments Yasmin Wyatt, Operations Director at Two Magpies.
Renowned for its delicious homemade bread and hand-laminated pastries, Two Magpies has witnessed huge expansion over the last few years and continues to stay ahead of the curve in order to deliver the highest quality baked goods to its customers. “Due to our fast action, we have managed to absorb the potential impact from the budget, and stay on track for another profitable year in 2025. In fact, we had a record number of sales over Easter weekend, the biggest we’ve ever had, proving that business remains strong across all our sites. We have worked hard to ensure that there are no obvious changes to our customers and they still receive the top quality service the brand is known for,” Yasmin adds.
Amongst the changes, Two Magpies has given the Mini Magpies site at Southwold a complete refurbishment including a new and more modern layout. As the first cafe to open back in 2013, the refurbishment has now brought the older site back in line with the brand 12 years on, making it more representative of the other sites.
Yasmin explains, “We’d already changed Southwold into our Mini Magpies style, but we have now reduced the seating further, allowing the bulk of trade to be takeaway. This has meant that the flow of the store has changed, with one continuous line. We have found this a really positive step for the store, with more add on sales increasing transaction value.”
Since opening in Southwold in 2013, Two Magpies has established a central bakery and baking school in Darsham, as well as cafes in Aldeburgh, Framlingham, Norwich, Blakeney, Holt, Walpole, Woodbridge, Wells-Next-The-Sea and Beccles across Norfolk and Suffolk. Its Darsham site is now home to Hilton Macarons, which was previously based in Framlingham. “Bringing the two businesses all under one roof has provided another cost saving,” adds Yasmin.
