The importance of training the bakers of the future was highlighted during a two-day bakery and confectionery industry conference staged in Llanelli.

The British Confectioners Association (the body recognised as the torch-bearers for craft baking in the UK) picked Llanelli as the venue for their conference in honour of Jenkins the Bakers.

The Jenkins business is celebrating its 90 ^th anniversary this year.

Operations Director Russell Jenkins said the two-day visit by the BCA included business workshops, tours of the Jenkins Bakery main HQ in Trostre and visits to many Jenkins shops in the area.

Mr Jenkins added: They really do pack in as much as they can into BCA meetings. The BCA is highly regarded for preserving the craft element of what we do in the bakery industry. But it is also highly focused on innovation and the future and helping to improve the industry.

The conference is always known for its healthy exchange of ideas and best practice in the craft baking industry and this spirit of enterprise, partnership and cooperation was well to the fore in the Llanelli meetings.

Here at Jenkins, we pride ourselves on being very concerned with training our workers and we were delighted to have visitors from The Bakery School, a not-for-profit company based in Leigh in Lancashire which offers online tutorials for our staff.

Jean Grieves, of The Bakery School, joined her colleague Albert Waterfield in touring the Jenkins Bakery HQ.

She said: It was a very interesting visit and lovely to meet the enthusiastic and happy staff. We offer modules and programmes which the new generation of bakers can follow online and at their own speed. Its an innovative programme and I am delighted to see it is paying dividends for Jenkins Bakery.

The Jenkins bakery employs 300 people, full and part-time, across 25 different stores in South Wales.

The company has the Gold Standard Welsh Food Hygiene Award and the Investors in People award.

Company secretary Mr David Jenkins added: We are very proud to continue to be a family business and I think that shines through in everything we do.

The business employs 70 people at its Trostre HQ, while the Jenkins shop network stretches from Carmarthen to Bridgend. There are 13 shops in Carmarthenshire and even one as far afield as Powys.

Facts and figures . . .

Jenkins the Bakers produce 50,000 corned beef pasties a week.

The company serves 60,000 customers per week

7,500 custard slices are produced in a week.

The business uses 15 tons of flour a week

The flour silo at the Trostre HQ sees an 18-ton delivery every 10 days.

Picture: Russell Jenkins, director Jenkins Bakery, Albert Waterfield, The Bakery School. Front row - cake decorator Natasha Fuge and Jean Grieves of The Bakery School.

Other pictures available for download from