Robert Lloyd - a Sir Gar Blog of random news . . . and some Clecs!

There’s a touch of Mexicana leading the new products being launched by the Jenkins Bakery. The new products hit the shops on Monday (July 31). They are – Mexicana Cheese & Salsa Wrap – £2:60 BLT with Applewood Cheese Sandwich – £2:75 and Mallow filled Oyster Wafer (“Ollie the Oyster”) – £1:00 Operations director Russell Jenkins said: “Our team at our bakery HQ in Trostre are always keen to try new products. We like to do plenty of market research to see what new taste sensations our customers fancy trying. “This week, we have three new products making their debut on the shelves. “The Mexican Cheese Salsa wrap is a tortilla wrap with spicy fire-roasted tomato sauce and spicy Mexicana Cheese. Mexicana cheese is a red Farmhouse cheddar cheese with bell peppers and Hot Chilli spices. “The BLT with Applewood Cheese is on Multiseed bread with Reggae Reggae spicy sauce, rashers of streaky bacon, Lettuce, Sliced tomato and Applewood Smoked Cheese. Applewood cheese is a smooth textured Farm...

The popular South Wales Jenkins Bakery has launched a special range of products to mark Halloween. "We always like to do something special to mark different occasions throughout the year," said Russell Jenkins, operations director at the Jenkins Bakery. "Our customers have come to expect us to do something special and this year we have six different products for people to enjoy as they party over Halloween.” The products are - HALLOWEEN PUMPKIN BISCUIT – £1.00  Our top quality shortbread biscuit with a hand decorated pumpkin in sugar paste and chocolate. HALLOWEEN MALLOWS - £1.00  Chocolate covered marshmallow. HALLOWEEN KRISPIES - £1.10  Chocolate Krispie Cake with edible figure. HALLOWEEN CUP CAKES – £1.00  Our top quality plain sponge, covered with orange icing and hand decorated with chocolate for the spiders legs and two mini eggs for his body. HALLOWEEN MALLOW CONES – 85P  Our popular marshmallow cones specially dec...

The Jenkins Bakery is once again be supporting National Doughnut Week and The Children’s Trust Charity. For every doughnut sold, the firm will be donating 5p to the Children’s Trust Charity. Last year, the Jenkins Bakery shops throughout South Wales raised more than £500. The doughnut week runs from Saturday (May 7) until May 14. Jenkins Bakery operations director Russell Jenkins said that Doughnut Week was a great opportunity to celebrate the doughnut and raise money for a very worthwhile charity. He added: "Our staff enjoy getting into the spirit of doughnut week and we are always grateful for the support of our customers, who enter into the spirit of the event and help the Children's Trust Charity." Websites - http://www.nationaldoughnutweek.org/ http://jenkinsbakery.co.uk/ The Jenkins Bakery doughnut range -  Caramel Doughnut £1.00 Our top quality doughnut coated with caramel crembel with crème patisserie filling. Chocolate Ring Doughnut 72p Our t...

The Jenkins family business has been voted the Most Loved Bakery in Wales. The Llanelli-based Jenkins Bakery scooped the award after a public vote as part of the national Craft Bakers’ Week 2015. "It's a wonderful honour and a huge achievement for the team at Jenkins Bakery," said operations director Russell Jenkins. "We strive to produce quality products for our customers and we are delighted when we get such marvellous support to win a great prize. "We have some top class craft bakers on the team here at Jenkins and pride ourselves on producing both traditional and innovative breads. "You will find standard white and brown loaves on our shelves as well as regular speciality products such as Chia Seed Bread, Artisan Sour Dough and Spelt and Honey Bread. We really do have something for everyone, something to suit all tastes." Now in its seventh year, Craft Bakers’ Week offers bakers an opportunity to raise awareness of both their own bu...

Love is in the air at the Jenkins Bakery’s 29 shops across South Wales. The popular bakery business has launched special products to mark St Valentine’s Day on Saturday, February 14. “Love Bugs and Chocolate Heart Lollipops (pictured above) are just what you need to add that sprinkling of romance to your day,” said operations director Russell Jenkins. “2015 seems to be the year when romance is in the air. “We’ve already had the saint’s day for the Welsh patron saint of love, Santes Dwynwen, and now the countdown is well and truly on to Valentine’s Day.  "In this age of austerity, it seems everyone enjoys the chance to have some fun and lighten the mood. St Valentine's Day gives everyone the opportunity to smile and get in the romantic mood. “Romance has been high on the agenda here at the Jenkins Bakery as we have been busy showing off our award-winning cake designs at wedding fairs. “Our expert cake decorators love a challenge and they are up to any task demanded by ...

The National Eisteddfod has been praised for bringing the cultural event to Llanelli by one of the bosses at a leading West Wales business. Russell Jenkins, operations manager at the Jenkins Bakery, said: "I have nothing but praise for the Carmarthenshire National Eisteddfod. "It brought life, colour and customers to the town. As far as I am concerned it is a pity Llanelli isn't the established South Wales home of the Eisteddfod. We would then see it here every other year." Mr Jenkins said he was disappointed by the negative reaction of some Llanelli town centre traders to the Eisteddfod. "Yes, it does impact on traffic flow, but speaking for the Jenkins Bakery I can tell you that all our town centre shops were very busy throughout the week. "Our staff entered into the spirit of the event. They put Welsh flags up and decorated shops with a Welsh theme using daffodils, leeks, rugby balls, Welsh dolls, Welsh flags, a Welsh cake 'plank' and red, ...

The Jenkins Bakery has released details of its Easter range of products. "There's something for everyone to enjoy at Easter time," said the Jenkins Bakery's operations director Russell Jenkins. "Our staff always enjoy producing new ideas for Easter and I'm sure our customers will enjoy sampling the products we have on offer." Easter Sunday falls on April 20 this year. The long bank holiday weekend begins on Good Friday, April 18, and Easter Monday on April 21 is the final day in the bank holiday festivities. The Easter range includes - BUNNY KRISPIES £1.00 Our chocolate krispie confection with an edible sugar bunny and drizzled with white chocolate. EASTER FRUIT CAKE SLICE £1.10 Our delicious rich fruit cake with marzipan and ribbed rolled sugarpaste – a fruit cake lover’s delight! CHOCOLATE SPRING NEST £1.00 Moist chocolate swiss roll enrobed with chocolate and decorated with chocolate eggs in a nest of chocolate buttercream....

One of the most well -established and best-known businesses in South Wales has opened a new shop in the popular seaside resort of Porthcawl in the County Borough of Bridgend. The new Jenkins Bakery shop in John Street is the 28th in a chain of retail outlets covering a sizeable area in South Wales, from Bridgend in the east to Carmarthen in the west and north to Ystradgynlais in Powys. “This is the third new shop we have opened in the last 12 months,” Jenkins Bakery Operations Director Russell Jenkins proudly declared today. “We are well known for having our roots as a family firm in Llanelli, but we will continue to expand our range of shops as and when we see fit. “The John Street shop in Porthcawl is managed by Zoe Rees and is in a prime town centre location in the semi-pedestrianised precinct with plenty of car parking available nearby. “It’s an exciting new location for all of us at Jenkins Bakery and we are looking forward to making friends with all our new customers in Port...

The team at the Jenkins Bakery had great fun helping to raise money for the BBC's Children In Need appeal. The bakery made special Pudsey biscuits to mark the occasion. A total of 1,633 'Pudseys' were sold, with the biscuits helping the bakery make a total donation of £1,400 to the appeal fund. Jenkins Bakery operations director Russell Jenkins said: "As always, we are very grateful to our customers for their support. They bought the biscuits and also put donations into the tin. "Five of our shops excelled in their efforts - Llanelli's Thomas Street shop, Bridgend, Ystradgynlais, Skewen and Neath." At the Thomas Street shop, staff wore onesies as part of the charity effort. Pictured above are Thomas Street staff Janice Page, Caroline Davies, Kirsty Howells.

Two talented cake-makers from the Jenkins Bakery have won a place in the National Cup Cakes finals. Cake department manager Sarah Williams and trainee Alex Cowell were picked out of 350 entries nationwide for a place in the finals. The event is organised by the British Baker magazine and website. The ‘live’ finals will take place at the National Exhibition centre (NEC) in Birmingham in November. Jenkins Bakery operations director Russell Jenkins said: “It’s already been very successful year for us in terms of awards, but we are delighted with this latest success. “We believe in competing against the very best in the baking and cake-making industry. Competitions like this one help our staff hone their skills to a very sharp level. We wish Sarah and Alex all the very best in the heat of the kitchen in the finals.” There were four categories in the competition: ‘Classic’, ‘Themed’, ‘Free-from’ and ‘Made with Alcohol’. The judges whittled down the entries, based on recipe, appearance, in...

One of the best-established and best-known businesses in South Wales has opened a new shop in Portmead, Swansea. The new Jenkins Bakery shop in Pentregethin Road is the 27th in a chain of retail outlets covering a large South Wales footprint, from Bridgend to Carmarthen and north to Ystradgynlais. “This is our fourth Swansea shop,” Jenkins Bakery Operations Director Russell Jenkins proudly declared as he cut the tape to open the new Portmead outlet. “We’re occupying a new purpose-built site, with car parking and a One Stop convenience shop and cashpoint right next door. “It’s an exciting new location for Portmead and we are looking forward to making friends with all our new customers.” The shop is the second new Jenkins Bakery outlet to open this year, following the launch of the company’s coffee shop in the prestigious new East Gate development in Llanelli. David Jenkins, Commercial Director at Llanelli-based business, said: “We are delighted to be expanding once again. “As a thi...

The Jenkins Bakery is doing its bit to help a mammoth charity fund-raising effort during National Doughnut Week (May 11-18). For seven days every year, bakers up and down the country sell doughnuts to raise money for The Children's Trust, a national charity which provides specialist care and rehabilitation for children with multiple disabilities. The Llanelli-based bakery is one of a handful of bakery businesses in Wales participating in the scheme. “We are a family business and always keen to put something back into the community,” said Russell Jenkins, operations director of the Jenkins Bakery. “We have taken part in National Doughnut Week for a number of years and we will be doing our best to make sure that staff and customers can have a bit of fun raising cash for a very worthwhile charity.” Over the last 20 years, National Doughnut Week has raised more than £735,000. In 2013, the target is to raise at least £30,000. National Doughnut Week is sponsored by leading bakery ...