A Nottingham-based bakery is celebrating a successful 40 years in business with many of its original staff attending the celebrations. Riverside Bakery opened in 1982 on its site on Crossgate Drive and supplies some of the biggest businesses in Nottingham.
Riverside Bakery produces quiches, flans and savoury tarts sold by major retailers including Asda, Sainsbury's, Aldi and Lidl. The company's brands include Pork Farms and Wall's.
Staff recalled the hard work and dedication that it took to become the biggest bakery in the city but say the people are the best part of working for the company.
Deborah Bolton is the Group Transformation Director at Riverside. She joined the company in 2007 and has been in the food industry for her entire career. She recalls the difficulties that the business has experienced but says the staff rose to the challenge perfectly.
Deborah said: "My standout memories have been working with the people here. We've had some difficult times such as when we were sold to Vision Capital which meant we had to downsize significantly so it was a struggle. However, the guys took the challenge on board and the new team has really grown in the past few years."
Chris Bradshaw was one of the original members of the team back when the factor opened in 1982. His achievements with the company were acknowledged by senior staff members at an event at the factory's head office.
He said: "I joined the company when it was built in May 1982. At the time, you think it's only going to be six months but I'm here and it's progressed from there. Chris Haskins was a chairman here and a staunch labour supporter and he did so much for his staff while he was here. He was fantastic to work for and by 1984, you knew this company was great."
"It was such hard work at the start as we would start at 4am and be here until 9 pm on some nights. There was nothing like a 60-hour workweek in those days. If you worked in one department then you knew all of the names of everyone in different departments as it was a really tight-knit group. Riverside became the flagship for Northern Foods and did everything for Marks and Spencers."
Paul Succony, said: "I started exactly 40 years ago and I was one of the founding members. I was the plant manager at the time. A lot of the staff when we started came from places like Rayleigh and Plessey so they had no experience so it was a big challenge. What is great about looking back at that time is the passion and dedication to getting the business going."
He added: "We still have some of the original ovens as they were really built to last. Some of the layout of the place is still the same too and it still has the same friendly vibe. These factories are all about the people and if you get them engaged and feeling part of it then you can feel it when you walk around."
"I've worked in 25 different factories and Riverside was one of them. When I look back at the people I have been associated with, I think if I was to start a factory from scratch on a desert island, these would be the people I would take with me because of the support and teamwork."
What may be difficult for modern factory workers to understand now is that when the bakery opened, there were no computers or systems in place. Everything was counted and accounted for by hand on pen and paper.
Carole Williams said: "I went on to be the Plant Manager's Personal Assistant. It was all new at that time and the role entailed all sorts of things. Primarily I had to do all the figures and planning which we had no computers for so we had paper and pen. We had to do charts every day by hand and we would have to recount things often. We would take all the orders from Sainsbury's and M&S, so I knew all the depots off by heart. Everything was manual in those days."
The business has recently started to recruit graduates with a view to training the next generation of Riverside staff. This started with a graduate scheme that worked with the local universities and has since grown to recruit countrywide.
Deborah said: "Operations isn't always the most interesting function but these people are difficult to find. We made a decision to make a few years ago to set up a graduate recruit scheme and bring in new talent."
"Our first graduate became a continuous improvement manager in just ten months. Last year, we had four people in operations and this year we went looking for sixteen across the whole group. It was great to speak to people about what we do."
