Member Article

Sunrise serves up ‘Caribbean’ treat for Bolt

The two fastest men in the world received a taste of the ‘Caribbean’ when they arrived in Birmingham recently.

Sunrise Bakery has agreed a deal with Birmingham City Council and the University of Birmingham to supply its locally made rum cake to every member of the Jamaican track and field team.

All 80 athletes, including 100 meters stars Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake, received a commemorative ‘Paradise Estates’ cake baked at the company’s facility in Smethwick.

The firm, which employs 27 people, also worked with Sugarcraft Box to create an Olympic themed cake that formed the centre piece of displays at the gala dinner held in July.

Errol Drummond, Managing Director, was delighted to be involved:

“It was a great opportunity for us to welcome the Jamaican team to Birmingham and hopefully make them feel immediately at home.

“The cake is made from a secret family recipe and is made up of dried fruit, soaked in port, sherry and Caribbean rum.”

He continued: “We first launched it last year and demand has come from all over the UK - some people are actually using it as a celebration cake.

“Each athlete had either a fruit or plain rum cake waiting for them in their room. It is specially decorated to mark the Olympics so they can either use it as a keepsake or a ‘treat’…naturally to enjoy after they’ve competed.”

Sunrise Bakery is hoping its involvement with the Jamaican athletics team will spark a rush of sales for its ‘Paradise Estates’ range.

It is currently only available through www.sunrisebakery.co.uk, but will shortly be sold through Heart Distribution and a host of independent retailers.

In addition to the rum cake, the company is also supplying its traditional range of hard dough bread and spice buns to the University of Birmingham and, in another exciting development, for official use at London 2012.

“We are one of a select number of suppliers that have been chosen to deliver our Caribbean products to the Olympic Village for the athletes and officials to enjoy, “ continued Errol.

“To think that our breads and buns are being eaten by some of the world’s best athletes is fantastic and it will certainly provide a great boost for the business. The work will definitely safeguard jobs too.”

Established in 1996, Sunrise Bakery was set up to cater for the rapidly growing Caribbean population in and around Birmingham and the Black Country.

The demand for hard dough bread helped the business build a network of local shops and, with ‘word of mouth’ generating more sales, the company began to grow and in 1980 relocated to its current site in Smethwick.

From here, a steady programme of investment in mixing stations and specialist ovens has helped expand its product range, a product range that is now featured in more than 90 Asda stores, 60 Tesco outlets and in over 250 independent retailers.

For further information, please visit www.sunrisebakery.co.uk or contact 0121 565 1647. You can follow the company on twitter at @sunrisebakery

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Russ Cockburn .