An artisan gingerbread producer from Grantham has expanded his routes to market and seen online sales for his traditional Grantham Gingerbreads grow by 400% in the past year, using key learnings from the Small Business Charter’s Help to Grow: Management Course.

The success of Hawkens Gingerbread, founded by Alastair Hawken, now includes its products being stocked by the likes of Selfridges and the National Trust’s shops, while the company’s efforts have also led to Germans acquiring a taste for quintessentially British gingerbread.

Alastair started the business in 2009 after discovering that Grantham Gingerbread – England’s oldest biscuit recipe – had fallen out of production.

Inspired to revive a piece of British culinary heritage, and with no former experience in baking or food manufacturing, Alastair took the leap from BBC and ITV broadcaster to baker, perfecting the recipe and establishing his business in a repurposed church in Grantham.

However, half of the company’s sales come in the three months leading up to Christmas, during which time Hawkens reaches a daily production capacity of around 2,000 hand-finished packs of gingerbread products. With over a decade of experience under his belt, Alastair had adapted to these seasonal peaks and troughs, but he recognised the need to tackle these fluctuations head-on to ensure continued success.

Alastair Hawken, founder at Hawkens Gingerbread, said: “Since setting up the business I’ve always loved the Christmas rush, but I had hoped that I could debunk the myth that gingerbread is just for Christmas. Sadly, after many years of trying, I have realised I can’t. Our business was consistently experiencing a trend line where we ramped up our production from August to cater to the seasonal peak, but this was then followed by a much quieter period in the new year.”

While looking for a long-term solution to mitigate these seasonal fluctuations, Alastair discovered the Help to Grow: Management Course at Nottingham Trent University’s Business School.

He added: “As an entrepreneur you believe you have all the answers but as time goes on you realise you don’t. The Help to Grow: Management Course helped me to develop a clear understanding of where the strongest, most margin rich routes to market are for our brand. With the business frameworks I learnt how to use on the course, I was better able to understand our product, target market and customers, and could then focus our time and resources more effectively.”

While he continues to successfully sell gingerbread products online, shifting the focus to wholesale opportunities has allowed Hawkens Gingerbread to develop consistent demand for the product all year round as a luxury gifting brand. Partnering with a range of different hamper providers has been particularly successful for the company.

Alastair continued: “When I set up the business, I naively imagined that I would get a deal with a large supermarket chain and make lots of money, but I now realise that our brand would be a total mismatch for this model. Through the Help to Grow: Management Course I have been able to understand the best routes to market for our products – it’s been a real journey of exploration, understanding and learning.

“Now I get to see my gingerbread being stocked, shared, and gifted throughout the year in all these new places. Selling via buyers, instead of direct to the consumer, has proved a lot less arduous and it also results in direct purchases. In practice, for example, people taste the biscuits in a hamper and then come to our website and buy them online.”

Flora Hamilton, executive director at Small Business Charter, added: “Alastair’s journey is a great example of a company that has succeeded because of the sheer passion and commitment of the business owner. But like many of the UK’s brilliant entrepreneurs, Alastair got to a certain stage with his business and realised that he needed expert help and support to take it to the next level.

“The Help to Grow: Management Course equips small and medium enterprises with the business skills they need to drive growth, resilience, and long-term sustainability. Through our network of experts at Small Business Charter business schools, we’re able to help small business leaders from a huge variety of different sectors build the confidence and strategic mindset they need for sustainable success. We’re proud to support entrepreneurs like Alastair and show them that although sales might spike at Christmas, a robust strategy promotes year-round benefits.”

Since completing the course, Alastair has continued to collaborate with Nottingham Business School by taking on two marketing interns to help him explore corporate collaborations, understand the most profitable audience for the brand, and create a strategy that most successfully communicates the businesses core values of ecological sustainability, provenance and quality.

Business leaders can find out more about the Help to Grow: Management Course and sign up for the course in their area by visiting: www.smallbusinesscharter.org/help-to-grow-management