A leading bakery group has made a significant investment in a Gasparin slicer from EPP to provide pre-sliced teacakes to a prominent high-street café chain across the UK. This enhanced slicing process, integrated into the bakery line, allows café staff to serve toasted fruit teacakes more swiftly and efficiently.
For over a decade, the bakery group has been a trusted supplier to the high-street retailer, offering a variety of products, including their popular toasted teacakes—a staple on the café menu. Moreover, they also deliver items to other notable high-street retailers, such as hot cross buns, bread rolls, brioche buns, and iced buns.
Initially, the retail café discovered that hand-slicing teacakes on-site was not only time-consuming but also hindered service during peak hours. To enhance operations, the bakery sought a solution from EPP.
“The high street retailer felt that removing an additional process from the café environment would be beneficial,” states Michael Lomas, technical sales manager at EPP. “This change would also reduce the risk of injury, as large knives would no longer be necessary or stored. The challenge of slicing teacakes at scale lies in the fact that fruit and residue tend to stick to the continuous blade, thus requiring frequent cleaning to maintain optimal performance.”
In response, EPP partnered with the bakery to conduct trials at Gasparin’s manufacturing facility in Marano Vicentino, Italy, assessing the runtime of an automated slicer before cleaning became necessary. EPP focused on incorporating special features to extend the slicer’s operations between cleanings.
After thorough follow-up testing with a trial slicer at the UK bakery site, they proceeded to invest in a Gasparin Model 110 horizontal slicer, capable of slicing up to 3,600 teacakes per hour. Notably, the retailer observed that the cuts were cleaner and more consistent than those from previous hand-slicing methods.
“It was a pleasure to work with the renowned bakery and well-known high-street retailer to solve this efficiency challenge,” Michael adds. “Automating processes to enhance consistency, safety, and return on investment is central to what we do. Furthermore, it’s rewarding to support bakeries in achieving continued success with an iconic product like the teacake.”