Seasons Bakery make HUGE savings across energy bills, after purchasing wood pellet oven
Seasons Bakery is a family run business based in the Yorkshire Dales, using traditional, time served methods and unique family recipes. The business started in 2007 in Kirby Lonsdale, moving and expanding the business into Ingleton in 2010, with the bakery then moving into its current home in 2013. The bakery provides additional capacity for the rapidly expanding wholesale business and houses a retail outlet that’s become somewhat of a community hub in the area, loved by locals and visitors alike, with thousands of tourists that arrive in the area each year.
The Brook Food and Bakery Equipment team have been working with Seasons for a long time helping them source equipment suitable for the stage the bakery has been in at the time. On moving to Ingleton, the growth in production needs saw new ovens installed in quick succession to help with achieving baking productivity and quality. Two Polin electric deck ovens and then a Polin single rack oven were used for baking some of the vast range in products across bread and pastry which has included some award-winning loaves and iconic products, that achieves an almost cult-like following.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, and the time following, the bakery team were forced to look at new ways to adapt to a challenging outlook, rising ingredients and energy costs were at the heart of the concerns, and like many bakery businesses, Seasons were forced to look at ways to reduce their energy usage.
‘We had an energy bill of £15,000 a month, something of which we simply could not afford,’ shared Dan Nemeth, founder.
It was during this predicament that we suggested Seasons part exchange their two electric ovens and replace them with a larger steam tube deck oven fuelled by wood pellets.
Increasing deck oven capacity and benefiting from the trusted baking format of steam tube heat transfer were added benefits that have helped Seasons product improve, aside from the massive savings and environmental advantages of moving to wood pellets.
‘We are a green business’ says Dan, ‘we looked at getting a steam tube oven years ago, but we really weren’t in a position to afford one. Thankfully the business is able to sustain it now’.
The bakery team have benefitted from the oven’s integrated loader that streamlines loading and unloading as well as the development and enhancement in the bake.
‘The bake quality is fantastic, and we get a perfect, even bake across all our breads. I thought the bake quality was great on my electric Polin ovens, but for our product, the sourdough, it’s unbeatable and I love how the steam works on these ovens too.’ He adds ‘We actually turn the oven off during our last sourdough bake, the heat retention is remarkable, croissants, tea-cakes, baps and fruit loaves all bake with the residual heat beautifully’.
But it’s the savings and green credentials that really make a difference to Seasons. A wood pellet oven can be classified as ‘zero emission’ with pellets available that are a by-product from forestry operations. Energy bills as of 2023 have been slashed, by a massive 85%, with Dan saying ‘is a huge relief for us. They are the future. If anything, I wish I had switched years and years ago’.
Learn more about ‘steam tube’ ovens, and more about ‘wood pellet fuelled oven options’, as this technology is also available across rack ovens.
