More Waitrose

Following the exuberant ingredients list noticed at reference 1, today we have some exuberant packaging, also from Waitrose, with a background which would do nicely in a child's bedroom. A regenerative baguette, whatever that might mean, complete with a dose of that computer printing which pretends to be handwriting.

A fairly new company, founded in 2018 by a musician, a financier and someone in entertainment. They must have done pretty well, because their stuff is sold by Sainsbury's, Tesco's and Abel & Cole, the first three on Bing's hit list. And there is a French connection.

Not clear from the packaging where or by whom the bread is made. One might have thought that such a company would have trouble delivering modest amounts of bread on a daily basis to individual shops, so they must be delivering to warehouses - which suggests to me another 90%-10% split of cooking duties between Wildfarmed and the in-store bakeries.

Wldfarmed is the trading name of TRFF Ltd, well known to Companies House, who offer the balance sheet snapped above. Hopefully it means something to an accountant, as it means nothing to me. I wonder where money-in and money-out lives? The sort of stuff that clerks used to write up in ledgers, perched on high chairs in front of high desks, perhaps sporting a green eye shade?

While reference 3 suggests something on vaguely cooperative lines, with Wildfarmed being a front, as it were, for forty odd farmers who have signed up to wild farming principles.

However, having been a bit put off by all this packaging nonsense, the bread itself was quite good, if a little undercooked. I did the 370g in one go, with a little butter, although, to be fair, I had walked a fair way that day, guessing, somewhere between 5 and 10km.

PS 1: the Gemini story, the start of which is snapped above, is consistent with what I had been able to find out for myself. Waitrose just get one of the factory bakers that they use to use flour from Wildfarmed, with 10% finishing in store, as per reference 1. He also tells me that it is a better product, at least in part, because they are using better flour than is usual for such purposes.

And that the real bread people are having a go at Waitrose over misleading packaging, given that the bread includes various additives to smooth its way along the complicated production line.

PS 2: I believe that, many years ago, the warm beer people (CAMRA), having done a good job on warm beer, had a go at real bread, but without making much headway. Maybe the people at reference 4 will do better. 

Speaking for myself, yesterday saw bread batch No.776, this number reflecting something over 15 years worth of home baking, very nearly all wholemeal. Presently using Royalty flour from Wrights. Very good the bread was too, although I did not do the whole loaf - rather more than 370g - in one go.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv6.blogspot.com/2026/05/bread-towards-fake.html.

Reference 2: https://wildfarmed.com/.'Wildfarmed fields are home to 17% more insects than conventionally-farmed fields - a major biodiversity boost'. A rather busy, visually noisy website. 

Reference 3: https://regenerative.yeovalley.co.uk/farms/wildfarmed/. Are these Yeo people the same people as sell yoghurt and stuff to Sainsbury's?

Reference 4: https://www.realbreadshop.co.uk/about.