Nicholas & Harris (N&H), part of the Finsbury Food Group, bakes speciality bread, rolls and buns for major UK supermarkets and foodservice customers. Having observed strong demand for its artisan sourdough products, the Salisbury-based baker opted to boost its capacity by adding a third MIWE Ideal T deck oven with stone plates, supplied and installed by bakery and food production equipment specialist European Process Plant Ltd (EPP).The oven has enabled N&H to produce its high-quality product at greater scale. EPP provided a full turnkey solution including installation.

N&H’s investment in the MIWE Ideal T Oven from EPP provides uniform transfer of heat and allows six additional decks of capacity to further scale up its production. N&H previously had two of the same MIWE ovens that EPP had also supplied. With MIWE oven’s exceptional baking properties and subtle control functions, the Ideal is versatile and well suited for baking the entire product range, from heavy rye breads to small wheat rolls.

“Stone-baking is a critical part of our process, which helps with crust development and locking in moisture,” says David Walmsley, Business Director at Finsbury Food Group. “This oven comes with an automatic loading system that allows us to run an efficient bakery. This market has grown exponentially for us over the past five years. What we now have is a fantastic facility to make genuine artisan breads – in multiple shapes and sizes – at great scale for our key multiple customers across the country. We are doing this in a controlled, consistent manufacturing environment which they demand.”

As part of the work, EPP collaborated with the N&H engineers to remove the existing take off system, install the new oven next to the existing oven, and then reinstall take off belts –a fully managed project including civils work. The work has increased capacity and fit with existing process and plant. Thanks to the extra capacity, N&H has been able to increase its production of artisan sourdough, supplying a plethora of supermarket retail chains with sourdough products across the UK.