From leaving school early to training under Terry Laybourne, being employed as a chef in the Swiss Alps and working for Jamie Oliver, the co-owners of KNEAD met on the job at the Michelin starred Whatley Manor and are bringing their passion and knowledge to Gloucestershire's high streets.
SoGlos chatted with Kris Biggs and John Hawes to find out how their experience in high-calibre kitchens has influenced the nature of their neighbourhood bakeries across the county.
Can you share your career journey and how you founded KNEAD?
Kris: I trained under the first chef that ever got a Michelin star in Newcastle, Terry Laybourne, and took on a modern apprenticeship under his leadership. I worked for several of his restaurants and helped open the Jesmond Dene hotel.
After, I moved to Seaham Hall, solely dedicated to the pastry section; then worked for Steve Smith as a pastry chef; and eventually moved to Whatley Manor where I met John a few years later.
After my time at Whatley, I moved to The Waterside Inn with the Roux brothers; then Lords of the Manor as head pastry chef, back to Whatley again; and then opened the Rectory Hotel.
And then lockdown hit and I launched Cake and Bake. It was motivating to know that someone out there would actually pay for my desserts rather than coming into a hotel — the feedback was phenomenal.
Me and John had touched base throughout lockdown and he had a project he was looking to launch. And that's where the conversation about KNEAD started.
We opened in Black Jack Street in Cirencester in December 2020 and since then, we've launched multiple sites, gone from employing three up to 52 in just under four years.
John: I left school early, at 17, and I knew I was interested in food, but I also had a love for snowboarding. I worked in a Swiss restaurant — I was able to cook in the day and in the evening and I would snowboard between shifts, living in the mountains — it was good fun.
When I came back to the UK after leaving the Alps, I went to work in Bristol for Jamie Oliver and worked in various sections. After this, I moved into my first pastry chef role at Berkeley Square hotel — a 50-metre walk from where I worked with Jamie, so that was convenient!
Then I went to work at Whatley Manor, where Kris and I met. It was my first Michelin star role — I'd previously been at AA rosette level — it was such a huge jump and a big learning curve for me.
But I realised I didn't want to work in that sector forever — I didn't think it was sustainable and I didn't think I could raise a family and get married. So I left Whatley to join my family business, Jesse Smith and WJ Castle, which is a butchery business in the Cotswolds.
I was working with my twin brother and I got to grips with the basics of business, from profit and loss to how to manage cash-flow and leading people.
We had our first Jesse Smith butcher shop on Blackjack Street Est 1808, which was not performing very well as we had opened a large farmshop on the industrial estate in 2015 and drew allot of our trade out of town. At the time, me and my brother said we were going to split it into two shops and then lease the other half to a tenant. But I'd always wanted to open a bakery and I loved the idea of having a bakery/patisserie business to compliment the family business.
Kris and I had been in contact for seven or eight years since I'd left Whatley and I knew that he was at stage where he would want to leave the sector as well because he had got married and had a baby.
It was quite good timing — and then of course Covid hit and it was no brainer, really. So we opened KNEAD that year and it just took off.
How do you merge the standards of Michelin-starred kitchens with a high street bakery?
Kris: With our products, it's the quality, flavour and consistency. I'm from a Michelin background and KNEAD is the only business I've worked in that hasn't had any accolades from Michelin — I only know that standard and that's something that we instilled in the DNA of KNEAD itself, from day one.
Of course, there's variety, innovation and the choice we provide. If you go into a classic bakery, you know you're going to get a nice bun in there. You can grab a lardy cake, an Eccles cake, scone, cheese straw.
But we also offer our team — who are from similar backgrounds to us — a work-life balance. Our staff have left high-end restaurants and hotels to be able to cook the same quality food and bakes, but enjoy a work-life balance; enjoy their time with their family, while still being able to do what they're passionate about.
It's sad that so many chefs, front of house staff, restaurant managers and sommeliers are leaving the industry due to the conditions and culture of these high-calibre places.
We tell our staff to have a lunch break, enjoy their holiday and when they leave the premises, it's switch off time. They're not getting text messages and WhatsApps at 7pm.
John: We've ultimately built something that we, as family people, want to work in. There's no point trying to get other mature, skilled staff involved in a business we wouldn't want to be doing ourselves.
So we've kept all the good things and removed a lot of the bad things.
Kris: A lot of people will probably assume there's night shifts because of the bakery but actually, the earliest time a shift starts is 5am and that suits so many people. We're not starting at 9pm and finishing at 6am — there's none of that.
How do you celebrate your successes?
Kris: We do two staff parties a year — Christmas and summer. The day after the party, we close the business to allow everyone in the team to let their hair down and enjoy a drink, knowing they're not on breakfast or early reception the next day.
During the summer we host a big party with families, where you can bring your partner or children; there's a barbecue with some beers up at Elkstone, soft play and tug of war, games, bouncy castles.
In the last eight or nine months we've introduced KPI bonuses, on top of salaries.
Everyone's treated fairly too, so if a manager works 42.5 hours they'll get paid a certain amount; and if the commis works 42.5 hours, they'll get the same.
The biggest things we offer are benefits. We award a year as a service, so every time someone does an extra year of service, they get an additional day's holiday on top of their allowance.
John: There's lots of engagement with the rewards system within our team. There's employee of the month, where they get afternoon tea for two, brunch for two or a meal out.
Kris: During a standard full-time shift with the company, we provide staff lunch and you can also have barista hot drinks throughout the day, free of charge. We also have staff comedy awards during the Christmas party — it's really engaging and a bit of banter.
Where do you source your ingredients?
John: We keep it very local — we get all the meat from my family's company, Jesse Smith and WJ Castles. We produce a few products for KNEAD like the sausage rolls, the pasties and cooked meats.
We also use Bramley's Fruit and Veg from Cirencester which gets its produce from Bristol Market, daily.
Kris: We've got Extract Coffee, from a local roastery over in Bristol; we use Shipton Mill flour and Matthews Cotswold Flour. We use two companies as they've got different protein levels needed for baking.
How do you decide what goes on the menu?
Kris: We are led by the seasons as part of our ethos and that goes back to our basics of understanding the quality of the food in the Michelin background. With the Michelin menu, you are led by the seasonality — it's what's going to give you the maximised flavour from that product; if you're using asparagus in December, it's not going to be the same quality than it is in spring.
We basically bake the classics with a modern twist but without any of the gimmicks. We've got a Great Taste award for the almond croissant; we've got two stars for the pain au chocolate and the pecan and maple — the pain au chocolate is one of two products in the world that's ever received two stars.
And we were so fortunate to be included in La Liste, which is a French guide that recognises high-quality restaurants and hotels. They've realised that there's now a clear niche in the bakery world — and we are now in their list of best pastry shops in the world — we're globally recognised, which is really exciting for us as passionate and invested chefs.
What is one item you would both recommend trying from KNEAD?
Kris: We're going to argue here! But mine's the pecan and maple any day of the week or the almond croissant.
John: I like the treacle custard croissants, pecan maple, pain au chocolat... We like it all!
Kris: One thing that I'm definitely partial to — and has been on the menu since day one — is the Bakewell tart. It is the simplest thing and you can get one anywhere, but the texture, the flavour... it's up there for me.
What's next for the bakery?
John: We've got lots of plans in the pipeline. We would like to see KNEAD placed alongside well-known UK brands such as GAIL's. But we want to elevate with innovation, quality and flavour — becoming a premium, high-end version.
We've got two new openings this year — and we'd love to open more.
For more information about KNEAD, visit kneadbakery.co.uk.
