Island Bakery offer organic biscuits from The Hebrides in Scotland.
"We are not claiming that biscuits are a health food, but if you want to enjoy something sweet, it might as well be the best. We do our best for the environment, so you can enjoy our biscuits without feeling too guilty about it.”
- Joe & Dawn Reade, Island Bakery
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The Producer
From a bakery to award-winning biscuits
Joe & Dawn Reade started a bakery business on the Isle of Mull in 1994, when both were just 22. Initially, fresh bread was the only product but within two years the couple had established a full bakery range and delicatessen shop in Tobermory’s Main Street. It was through stocking the deli with speciality foods that Dawn realized that there was a bit of a gap in the market for tempting organic biscuits. Keen to make something that could travel beyond Mull, the Reades thought that biscuits seemed to be an excellent product to introduce to places beyond the island’s shores.
In 2001, Island Bakery Organics was born. Initially the range had just four varieties – focussed on quality not quantity. Their customers included Harvey Nichols and Selfridges. Within the first year, the company picked up several Great Taste awards and an Organic Food award.
By 2007, the biscuit side of business had overtaken the deli, and the Reades made the difficult decision to sell their shop to concentrate on their biscuits. Soon afterwards, plans were made to build a new bakery.
The Products
Biscuits full of character
Island Bakery made a very conscious choice to become an organic business. Organic standards ensure that all the ingredients have been produced on land that is free from pesticides or artificial fertilisers. This is good for the ecosystems on and around the farms that have grown the wheat for the flour, or where the cows whose milk makes the butter have grazed. We can be assured that those cows will enjoy the highest standards of animal welfare.
Every ingredient in Island Bakery biscuits is also fully traceable back to the producer. There are no GMOs, preservatives, artificial colours or flavours and no palm oil.
Being organic is only part of the picture for Island Bakery, they are also focussed on environmental friendly choices. The factory building is powered entirely with local sources of renewable energy. Electricity for the building is generated both by a hydro-electric turbine on the neighbouring Tobermory river, and a single wind turbine set on a hill above the bakery. Unique ovens are heated using local wood chip from Mull’s abundant timber plantations. This is not only environmentally sustainable, but the gentle heat gives the biscuits a slow, perfect bake.
Island Bakery biscuits are presented in paper trays reducing plastic use. The paper used is carbon balanced through The World Land Trust.
The product range has now expanded to eight varieties of sweet biscuits. Try their best selling Lemon Melts - a refreshing lemon biscuit dipped in creamy white chocolate – which can be found in our Summer Champagne Picnic Hamper or their Shortbread Biscuits - a traditional Scottish shortbread offering the perfect balance between crunchiness, sweetness and a rich butter taste - in our Classic Alcohol Free Hamper. Plus, we have a box of Oat Crumbles – a tea time treat that also pair well with cheese - in our Gourmet Food and Wine Hamper.
There's just so many to choose between!
