19 September 2005

Greggs baker wins Student Baker of the Year 2005

Greggs baker, Andrew Fairley, from Jarrow was crowned the Student Baker of the Year 2005 at The Baking Industry Awards glittering awards ceremony held in London at The Grosvenor Hotel.

British Sugar, sponsors of the Student Baker of the Year category, presented eighteen year-old Andrew with a trophy and £500 cheque at the prestigious awards ceremony hosted by Rory Bremner and John Inverdale.

Scott Liddle, British Sugar's head of bakery, said: "We are delighted to see such an enthusiastic and talented baker win this year's competition.  We wish Andrew the very best and are sure he will have a great future ahead of him in the bakery sector.  New talent is vital to the bakery industry, which is why we decided to take up the chance to sponsor the Student Baker of the Year."

Andrew won the award after impressing judges, when he took part, along with two other finalists in a nerve-wracking 'bake-off' at British Sugar's Food Centre in August.  One of the other finalists was Andrew's work colleague, nineteen year-old Daniel Smith who also works at Greggs North East.  The other was Mark Biggs who works at his family business A W Biggs in Littlehampton, West Sussex.

During the timed 'bake-off' they each made fruited teacakes, a bun ring and six plain scones under the watchful eyes of the judges.  They were later assessed and interviewed on their baking techniques.  They were also asked to bring along four pre-prepared bakery items, which included a children's product and a lunchtime takeaway offering.

Andrew rotates his skills in Greggs' savoury, confectionery and bread-making departments, helping to prepare a wide variety of bakery products for their high street outlets.

Andrew has already experienced that winning feeling whilst working for Greggs. He has won an in-house apprentice competition and secured several scholarship opportunities that have taken him to Amsterdam and the renowned Betty's of Harrogate tearooms to learn new bakery skills.