#Bakery story ovens 2019 professional#

So we said farewell to Low Moss and headed out to the Royston area of Glasgow, where our business has since bloomed. We learned a lot – not least that we’d set ourselves a big challenge!Īs the operation grew, we raised funding for a bespoke bakery unit where we could create a permanent home with all the right kit.

#Bakery story ovens 2019 professional#

With our head baker and our professional ovens, we started training our first cohort of bakers on site. It’s often just what people need.’įunded independently by charitable grants and enlightened investors (we have never sought public money), the Freedom Bakery watched its first sourdoughs rise at HMP Low Moss in the north of Glasgow. ‘The thing about bread is that it’s an occupation and a vocation. ‘Sometimes, in an old-fashioned way, to get over stuff, to feel better, you need to do something,’ Matt says. (That’s why our bread is so good, though we say it ourselves!) Dignity returns when you have work to do, and at Freedom Bakery we expect the same high standards from every staff member. This isn’t about forgiveness, redemption or even sympathy.

By teaching new skills, from baking to logistics, Freedom Bakery rebuilds confidence and hopefulness before prisoners are released. Taking notes from progressive prisoner rehabilitation schemes in places such as Italy, Matt wanted to see if a food business could create opportunities for people serving time. Feeling sorry for someone doesn’t lead them anywhere – it’s not going to help.’Įnter Freedom Bakery. Having a record is a tough thing, but though it’s easy to feel sorry for people, that itself is another problem. ‘When someone comes out of prison, they can quite quickly get entrenched and stuck in a reality that’s made for them their lives are structured by social services. If it involved his love of food somehow, then so much the better.Īs a teenager Matt had seen first-hand the complex social damage that follows a criminal conviction. He’d studied art history, tried different careers – but he couldn’t shake a desire to do something bigger. Our founder, Matt Fountain, had little more to his name than a phone bill.