Location, Location, Location…

 Where did the summer go? I suppose in a haze of baking, eating and drinking. July was packed with shifts at Layla and for Robins in my own kitchen in Putney. After enjoying just 4 days without my hands in some sort of dough throughout that month, our holiday to the US was incredibly welcome. It was wonderfully useful space to consider the next moves of Robins Bakery, while eating all sorts of grub and seeing good friends. Apologies to those of you that withstood the onslaught of Instagram stories. It kept me on my toes, and hopefully entertained a few.

So, to this post’s title. A location that would bring the bakery truly to life is what we have been looking for these past few months, as many of you might be aware. To cut a long story short, we may now have found one! I say may, because we have been here before and chickens are not yet to be counted, as eggs have not hatched. However, I have a reasonable feeling about this one. It is in Putney and on quite a small footprint, so the sort of offering I initially envisioned has been scaled back. We have decided not to push forward with a large indoor cafe for Robins B&P at this point, because on reflection it would probably push the business too far in one fell swoop. Instead, we will create an awesome, local, artisan bakery, selling the best pastries & bread, alongside takeaway coffee and simple, delicious breakfasts and lunches to chow down on at some lovely outdoor seating or as you hurry on your merry way.

In the US, I was continually impressed by the quality, imagination and pride businesses take in the simplest foods, particularly sandwiches. The subs at Court Street Grocers and pastrami sandwiches at Katz were just something else and I would love to do something similar in Putney, without feeling the need to dress it up as some Michelin starred entree. A sandwich should remain honest and tasty, as will the food at Robins Bakery & Provisions.

As well as baked goods and lunchy/breakfasty bits, we shall look to stock home-made deli goods: chutneys, jams, crackers (obvs), as well as some charcuterie, cheese, and perhaps fruit and veg…. hopefully wine too (thanks Florrie).

I would like all of these to be available for delivery by bike in some form. I am well aware that large parts of the delivery area I scoot around in SW15 and beyond is poorly served by good shops, and I would like to continue to keep these areas well fed. We shall see in due course what works, but I am envisaging a couple of morning delivery days per week, with a certain number of slots bookable in advance. Not a million miles away from what I currently do.

Fingers crossed the vision in our heads is starting to take shape for you. To make all of this a reality, we are having to raise the necessary money to invest in the business. There are of course many ways to go about this, but from the start of the bread delivering days I have wanted to try and make Crowdfunding as big a part of it as possible. Breaking bread has been a communal activity since someone first dropped some of their day-old porridge into a fire 8000 years ago, and I believe modern day baking in the UK should be about bring it back to those communal roots. You have all shown incredible support over the last year simply by deciding to place an order with Crumbs and the Robins B&P, and getting behind the vision of quality, locally baked goods, which we believe in so strongly.  Therefore, we would love to offer people the opportunity to have a stake in setting up a modern sourdough bakery in Putney (then perhaps beyond…), whose primary aim is to bring highly delicious and nutritional food to the local community.

The concept will be simple, you can put in a much or as little money as you would like, and this amount will be available to use as credit in the bakery once it is up and running, or to buy a t-shirt, bag, sourdough bread course or anything else we are able to offer. Your generosity would be a down payment that enables the bakery to cover the upfront costs and begin trading. I will hopefully soon be able to give you a date for the start of the Crowdfunding on Kickstarter. I will not do this, however, until I am very confident that we have found a home for the bakery.  I do not want to accept any money without soon being able to give you pastries in return.

A number of customers and friends have also asked me about larger investment, and this is something I would love to pursue. I know many people are passionate about helping small businesses, and in my opinion such people can only add purpose and vitality. As the business is small and needs a clear and simple direction, I want to steer clear of offering shares in the business at this point. Instead, I want to offer flexible-term loans, with reasonable interest, and a first refusal on any future fundraising through possible share allocations, which would most likely coincide with expansion into other bakeries or eateries. If this is something that appeals to you then please email me, drop me a text or give me a call and we can discuss.

Thanks once again for all your support. I hope you are as excited as we are about the developing story of Robins Bakery & Provisions.

Harry & Florrie.