Brace's Bakery facts for kids
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A Brace's vehicle delivering produce
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| Limited company | |
| Founded | 1902 |
| Headquarters | Crumlin, Caerphilly, Wales |
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Key people
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Mark and Jonathan Brace, Directors Scott Richardson, CEO |
| Products | Bread, cakes, crumpets, teacakes Welsh cakes |
| Revenue |  £ 37.1 million (2023) |
| £ 0.8 million (2023) |
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Number of employees
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285 (2023) |
Brace's Bakery is a well-known Welsh company that makes bread and other baked goods. It is based in Crumlin, Caerphilly, Wales.
How Brace's Bakery Started
Brace's Bakery was started in 1902 by a man named George Brace. He used to work in a coal mine in Clydach Vale. George began his bakery with a small shop in Pontllanfraith. He got a loan from his family to help him start.
At first, George's family members helped him with the business. He kept working at the coal mine until 1905. After a mining accident that year, George decided to leave mining. He then focused on growing his bakery business. George and his wife had five sons and two daughters. They lived in a house next to the bakery, which had a shop at the front.
George's brother, William Brace, was a miners' leader and became a Member of Parliament (MP) in 1906. In 1919, William helped George's oldest son, Ernest, get a bakery business in Oakdale. Ernest had just returned from serving in World War I. After this, George encouraged all his children to open their own bakeries in different towns across the South Wales Valleys.
Ernest's bakery in Oakdale became very successful. In the late 1930s, his business bought his father's original company, George Brace & Sons. When Ernest retired, his son Colin took over the business. Colin later passed the company on to his sons, Mark and Jonathan Brace. Today, Brace's Bakery still operates from three main locations: Pen-y-fan, Croespenmaen, and Capel Hendre.
Brace's Bakery Today
Mark and Jonathan Brace have helped the company grow a lot. In 1989, they closed the old bakery in Oakdale. They expanded their factory in Croespenmaen from about 790 square meters to over 5,500 square meters. They changed the business from a small local bakery with shops and vans to a large company that makes bread for all of South Wales and the West Country. Their goal was to compete with bigger national bread brands.
In 2004, Brace's bought another factory unit nearby, which was also about 5,500 square meters. They invested £10 million to install modern baking equipment there. This new factory can produce up to 900,000 loaves of bread every week! Brace's has factories in Croespenmaen and Pen-y-Fan Industrial Estate, which are close to each other. In 2011, they also bought a facility in Rogerstone, but this site closed in 2017.
In 2011, Brace's Bakery was recognized as one of the fastest-growing companies in the UK. They also started sending their bread to other countries in Europe that year. You can now find Brace's Bread in Spain, Portugal, Malta, Greece, and Cyprus. It is sold in many hotels, restaurants, and supermarkets there.
In 2022, the company received £4 million in funding from HSBC UK. This money helped them add more types of baked goods to their production. They now make tea cakes, bread rolls, and hot cross buns. Their new production line can make up to 16,000 rolls in an hour, selling over one million products each week.
From 2022 to 2023, the company's sales grew significantly. They reported sales of £37.1 million and made a profit of £1.1 million before tax.
In 2024, Brace's Bakery updated the look of its packaging with new designs. Their products are sold in major supermarkets like Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Lidl, and Co-op, as well as other stores across South Wales and the south west of England.
