Sally-Anne Watkiss is treasurer of Homebaked, a community-run bakery opposite the Liverpool football stadium in Anfield.
When did you notice things start to change?
We knew the Madrid game would be the last game [on March 11]. Our income is 90 per cent from trading, and 40 per cent of that comes from the football, so straight away we knew we had to do something. In the short term we applied for grants from Steve Morgan, a local funder, to carry on baking bread to give away to food banks. We used to bake 40 loaves a bread a day, now we bake 100.
Then we realised there was a massive demand for frozen pies delivered to homes, so we started making pies again, but 600 pies a week compared to 2,500. We are constrained by how quickly they can be delivered. They go on sale on a Thursday and they are selling out in five minutes. People have alarms in their phones to tell them when they are about to go on sale.
We have 10 local vulnerable people on our distribution list – people who have fallen through the cracks. So they get a weekly pie delivered & a loaf (and a weekly breakfast)
How are you managing financially?
We have a team of 20 and 15 of those are currently furloughed. That reflects the scale of the loss on income. We’ve got from sales of upwards of £20,000 a month to probably £6,000 a month. Obviously we have lost the pies from the football and supplied to the executive box at the ground, but we also a supplied to several pubs (around the weekend ) and the cafe was open every day – all of that has stopped.
We’ve also been caught up in the problem with the grant from rate relief as it is our landlord, not us, which is eligible for grant relief.
Massive thanks to @HomebakedA for the donation of butter yesterday! 😘
Our lovely neighbours absolutely loved your Scouse pies last week!😍#foodislove #stayhomesavelives #scouse pic.twitter.com/89HsEAJ6vb— Horse and Jockey Pub, Melling (@HorseJockeyMel) May 27, 2020
What should the government do?
They need to extend the furlough scheme to recognise that businesses are going to be opening at different times. We are a bit of a hybrid because we are a business and we benefit from the business stuff the government has done, we’re also a social enterprise so we have access to funding from the Steve Morgan foundation and Power to Change.
So we have some of the issues that trading businesses have and some of the issues that charities have, but we have a strong brand and a strong community, and because we are rooted in community, we are able to move fast. We were only closed for four or five days.
If we head into another period of austerity, we’re all doomed.
How has your relationship been with the council?
We haven’t needed to contact the council in Anfield. The pie production plant is in Sefton and the environmental health team at Sefton Council was great at checking we were able to do frozen pie delivery. But the main support was our networks and people choosing to spend their grants with us. The L6 Centre is buying pies from us, the Florry have bought pies from us, we have probably had nearly £1000 from donations that we have used to send bread to the local hospital and pies to the fire stations and NHS teams around the city including the ambulance station in Alder Hey. We have also given pies to the volunteers at the food bank. So when you buy a pie, you can choose to donate a pie.
What do you hope will change in the longer term?
I’m hoping that it will change the food bank model to cash donations and short term help that is nutritious. I think it will help with the revitalisation of neighbourhood high streets and local supply chains. Our butcher is based in a neighbourhood high street and they are thriving through this because they can stay open and do distance selling but supply across the city.
We have such a great partnership. Just asked @HomebakedA if they could make us 70 loaves for Thursday. No rude words 🤣 just “yes”. 😘 #feedingpeople #freshfood #buildbackbetter #lcrcares #thelids pic.twitter.com/1iU91H2m4E
— KnowsleyKitchen (@KnowsleyKitchen) May 18, 2020
The issue will be how do you get it further back, getting local farmers and growers connect with food manufacturers and local people. We have gone part of the way there but the missing link is the growing.
One of the things that Homebaked has found is that demand for our frozen pies won’t be as big. We know that if we can cook and chill pies rather than freeze them, then we have got a bigger market potential, so we’re looking at how we can invest in equipment to exploit that market. We’re really hoping that 100 loaves of bread a day will become the norm and food banks and community groups will continue to buy our bread.
But if we head into another period of austerity, we’re all doomed. At the moment, the affluent areas of the city, and Liverpool supporters from around the country, have donated to us because they love Anfield. But if the whole country starts to feel the effects, the donations will dry up, and the need will be even greater.
