Nestled in the small village of Llanllechid sits a family-run bakery that's been making some impressive moves to get Welsh products on the map. Set on the outskirts of beautiful Bethesda in the Snowdonia National Park you'll find the unassuming Popty Bakery, which first opened at the beginning of the 1900s.
Don't be fooled though, the bakery sends out wagons full of its famous Welsh cakes straight from the hills to supermarkets around the country and recently celebrated 15 years of partnership with Aldi. In fact, earlier this month when households around Wales were marking St David's Day, the bakery saw demand for its Welsh cakes more than double, supplying over 30,000 to Aldi in the one week prior alone.
Popty is owned by managing directors Marian and Gwyn Williams who took over the business in 1984, before then it was run by Gwyn's uncle Arthur who took over from Gwyn's grandfather, O.J. Williams.
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"When my husband's grandparents had it they sold bread, morning goods, pies, fresh cream cakes, all sorts of products," Marian explained. Now over 100 years later the original bakery is still up and running but the family focuses on just producing the best quality Welsh products, mainly Bara brith and their award-winning Welsh cakes using an age-old family recipe.
As well as supplying over 140 Aldi stores, Popty works with Asda, Co-Op, Morrisons, M&S, and Tesco after launching its first supermarket partnership with Safeways in the late 90s, which later became Morrisons. Despite many years of seeing their Welsh products on shelves, Marian explains that it's still brilliant to witness. " It's fantastic," she said. "It doesn’t matter where we go, when we see them it's so nice."
Marian puts the bakery's success simply down to the fact that the family are "extremely proud" of the products they produce, and they should be too. Their Welsh cakes alone have received multiple accolades, including the prestigious Guild of Fine Foods Great Taste Gold Star Award in 2020.
And while many aspects of the original bakery remain, the products are still finished by hand, some things have had to change to make way for its significant growth. The original bakery now has a 3000sq/ft steel structure extension and employs 22 people.
The bakery has also outgrown its humble delivery van, which was once the smallest vehicle at distribution centres, as demand for its amazing Welsh products grow. In fact, Marian remembers being shocked at the size of the wagons at Aldi forecourts when the partnership first came about in 2007. 15 years later and their own Welsh-cake-filled wagons have joined the line-up.
"We were the smallest van there," Marian recalls. "It was a massive, massive place and it was a shock, to be honest, how big the place was with the big wagons delivering.
"The managing directors were waiting there to greet us and saying 'one day you’ll have a bigger van' and 'one day you'll be going to the head office' and that's what happened."
Aldi is delighted to be supporting a family-run business with such a strong Welsh heritage, which works out well as it's important to Marian and Gwyn t o create more awareness of Welsh products.
Managing Director of Buying at Aldi UK, Julie Ashfield, said: "Popty Bakery has been a valued supplier at Aldi for 15 years and its delicious Welsh Cakes always perform well with our shoppers.
"We're delighted to support a family-run business with such a strong Welsh heritage, helping us to provide our customers with an award-winning product that is simply irresistible."
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