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Around Town Meets...
John Foster
 Barnsley area bread. Gently made with flour milled from local farms. Like a fine wine, ‘Fosters’ has rightly become a brand name extolling both quality and tradition.
They care about what they produce here in Mapplewell. I feel sure that the legendary bakery's founder, Emily Foster, would be proud of their modern achievements. I have often wondered what happened behind the seemingly small entrance to Fosters Bakery at Towngate in Mapplewell, so it was very pleasing to made welcome by Managing Director John Foster when I visited the site on a pleasant February afternoon. Following a chat with John, grandson of Emily, it was fascinating looking around, and I was surprised at the scale and extent of the works. It was a lovely to see the modern production facilities where care for the product was an obvious priority of both the workers and machines. Gentle, tactile rollers nursed the dough along its path to perfection, facilitated by skilled operators. Out of a great oven came hot, wonderfully smelling loaves and teacakes and I walked past a great robot, installed with a view to taking care of some of the physically demanding aspects of the job. I had a tempting walk through the 'cake room,' soon passing stacks of trays containing cases of custard pies awaiting filling, and hand sprinkling with nutmeg.
Then there was an area where specialist items were produced and tested. It might be gluten-free bread, a 'healthy-eating' pizza base for schools or a muffin. Fosters products were packed, and an impressive fleet of vehicles lined up to receive them, bound for supermarkets, hotel and restaurant chains, catering establishments as well as a variety of other outlets in the UK and abroad. In 1999 the company started its first subsidiary, Wellfoods Ltd, selling specialist items such as gluten-free bread and menopause cakes. The youngest in a large family, Emily Foster spent much of her time helping her parents and attending to a variety of domestic chores, including the cooking of meals.
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 This was not unusual in a working class household but her father, perhaps recognising some 'baking' potential, sent her to what is now called Leeds Thomas Danby, a vocational college, to learn cake decorating. After marriage to Arthur, a long-distance lorry driver, her occupational time, however, remained in their own household, bringing up a family; but during the war when rationing was in force Emily gained a reputation as a cook and baker, local families pooling their limited ingredients with her, knowing that she would produce something both economical and tasty. When her children had grown up Emily, with her daughter 'Betty' (Elizabeth) started a small cafe in the village, sited next to Staincross Methodist church, housed in an old blacksmith's shop. It was 1952, the year before the Coronation. The transport cafe had a small gas oven only capable of taking two loaves but were of such quality that they were in great demand, as were scones and other products. By 1959, the small enterprise had become a family affair, with Emily's son Donald giving up his job as a lorry driver, and daughter Audrey joining the business full-time. Despite the addition of another oven demand continued to exceed supply and new premises were required.
A limited company emerged and new premises, on Blacker Road, were established. In 1971 Fosters moved to their present Towngate location, conveniently located next to the family house. It was an old industrial site, formerly occupied by nail shops. The engineering shop served as Donald's garage, originally a timber structure, where he built their first van. The building still exists albeit in a much modernised version. When he was still at school, John recalls going to Barnsley with his dad, standing on Market Hill. On one side was the fruit and veg stall of a young lad called Brian Glover, who later gained fame as a wrestler and actor; and on the other a well known game stall where rabbits could be bought. A great early boost came when the wholesale trade began.
A Royston shopkeeper and caterer, Mr Jones, was so impressed by the produce of Fosters that he bought the entire batch that he was shown by Donald. Gradually the Towngate bakery expanded and Fosters has been extended several times over the years to its present considerable proportions. John told me that there was still scope for further development. Another facility is used nearby, at Mapplewell Business Park, on the old North Gawber Colliery site. John joined full-time in 1980, after attending bakery school in Manchester, gradually working his way through all aspects of the business, to become Managing Director. Fosters remains a family owned but functions through a small board of directors. William 'Bill' Finnerty, who started working for the family as a 14-year-old van lad, is in charge of sales.
Bill had recently been to Ireland where Fosters have established trade links, but their international business is now world wide. They even export French bread to France! The export side of the business, which began in 1992, principally concerns frozen bread, supplied to hotel and pub or restaurant chains, even airlines. The ingredients are specially made through blast freezing since freezing fresh bread does meet the Fosters high standard of quality. The other executives are Purchasing Director Ian Taylor (Audrey's son) and Operations Director Michael Taylor (not related). Interestingly, Ian is the nephew of the great Barnsley and Manchester United footballer Tommy Taylor who lost his life in the Munich air disaster, his family attending the recent 50th anniversary commemoration at Old Trafford. Research and development remain at the forefront of present and future operations. On site is a Food Technology Centre where five specialists are employed full-time. This includes a researcher from Sheffield Hallam University, someone working on quality systems and a someone working on new products.
Fosters UK market is very extensive, though it is in the south-east England where the bulk of products are shipped. Transport is either by Fosters own fleet of 20 vehicles or through a contracted provider, currently based in Pontefract, accounting for about 60% of the overall distribution. In case of any emergency, a large quantity of bread is kept in frozen storage, an indication of the considerable scale of present-day operations, making Fosters one of the largest bakeries in the UK, selling more than a million products in a week.
At one time it was thought that Canadian flour had to be used for all bread making, and English flour for cakes and biscuits. Not any more.
Fosters now have contracts with 38 local farms, growing wheat specially for them. This arrangement has taken several years to establish, involving reciprocal visits to farms and bakery. John has even had a go at drilling a wheat field. He told me that they are now able to track a batch of bread to a Yorkshire farm, even a particular field. George Moate's farm at Clayton serves as a good example. When the wheat field started cracking it was harvested, milled at Knottingley and used for baking bread. Launched by Boots last year, the 'single estate' locally sourced bread has been very successful for Fosters and is one of the best innovations in the food industry as a whole for many years.
I asked John about the company's employment policies and I was pleasantly surprised at the range of support strategies in operation for all 230 employees. Everyone receives some form of training and development. John had just completed a management diploma. Staff are engaged in a wide range of qualifications, right up to postgraduate level. An onsite training school and full-time tutor provides help for those employees requiring basic literacy and numeracy, a policy which developed from the Fosters language training initiative. The company has long provided tuition for employees whose first language is not English. There are also strong education and training links with local FE colleges. Fosters director Michael Taylor is a governor at Barnsley College. Fosters are also closely involved in a very successful scheme, at HMP Lindholme, near Doncaster, where John is a Board member.
Offenders are trained in bakery skills whilst they are in prison and Fosters guarantee them a real job with a proper rate of pay on release. There has been eleven successes so far, not one of them re-offending. Not surprisingly, this initiative has been acclaimed in the wider industry and Fosters are often invited to share their experiences of community education and training to a wider audience. The educational side of Fosters is also appreciated by links with one or two local primary schools each year; and with secondary establishments such as Penistone Grammar (Business & Enterprise College) and at Priory School (Sports College), Lundwood. It was the innovatory aspect of Fosters that was most impressive to me. 'In some ways,' said John, 'our biggest problem is being twenty years ahead of the game. We tend not to follow trends but make them and are sat on loads of developments.' However, he countered this by making what I thought was his most telling remark: 'We are still humble bakers of bread.' Emily still looks over John's shoulder.
In the modern age of mission statements, the three core values of Foster's make sense: open mindedness, integrity, loyalty.
Perhaps if more enterprises were run on this basis and with so much care they would last longer.
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