A former lawyer who followed her dream of opening her own bakery says the best thing about her first six months in business has been getting to know the local customers - as well as those who have travelled from afar.
Lisa Bindahnee says her first half a year running Bread Bin on New Street has been harder than anything she ever did during her successful 30-year career as a media lawyer.
But she insists that the 5am starts and long hours have all been worth it now the bakery is attracting people not only on its doorstep, but from many miles away.
“We seem to have become a destination bakery,” said Lisa.
“The thing that got it all going was a video of us using a blowtorch to burn the meringue on top of one of our lemon meringue pastries.
“The video was posted on Instagram at 9am on a Saturday, and by 9.20 people were coming saying I want that meringue pastry.
“We now have almost 5,000 followers on Instagram and people come to us from far and wide - Liverpool, London, Burnley. Someone comes weekly from Stockport, another travels from Stockton Heath just for his Bakewell tarts. It's amazing.”
But Lisa, who has been baking since she was a teenager and decided during lockdown to make it her career, says the biggest satisfaction she has had so far has been getting to know the locals.
“The best thing has been the relationships with the local customers - getting to know them by name, getting to know what they like, knowing someone comes in on a Friday for quiche or someone else likes their Basque cheesecake,” she said.
“We know all our regular customers' orders. They message me when they're abroad and tell me how something they have got from a bakery is not as good as ours. It's lovely.”
Describing the first few months in business as “knackering”, Lisa added: “My 55-year-old body is aching! Being a lawyer is really easy compared to this. It's definitely been harder than I thought. On a typical day I start at 6, and until 8am I am just focused on getting the pastries on to the counter.”
Bread Bin will soon be building on its success by launching a home delivery service on Friday and Saturdays, with orders taken through its website and delivered by cargo bike.
The bakery will also be offering a dine-in option for the first time ever as it encourages more locals to take advantage of its wide range of freshly made sandwiches.
Lisa is also stepping up efforts to reduce any surplus items at the end of the day.
“I hate waste,” she said. “So we have a WhatsApp group with the residents in the apartments here and will message them with half-price deals from time to time.
“Recently we’ve also started taking any unsold products to the staff room at the Altrincham Health and Wellbeing Centre across the road.
“It works well for us because they can then tell the patients how good we are!”
Bread Bin, 1 New Street, Altrincham WA14 2YN. Visit breadbinbakery.co.uk or follow @breadbinbakeryuk on Instagram
Photography: Laura Marie Linck
