Allied Bakeries to feature in BBC2 documentary

Allied Bakeries is to feature in a one-off BBC2 documentary detailing the pressures of major retailers and their suppliers in keeping supermarket shelves stocked during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Fronted by Sara Cox and Ade Adepitan, ‘Keeping Britain Fed’ explores how shopping habits changed during the crisis, the stresses on supermarket supply chains and the long term impacts of the pandemic on the way we shop.

Allied Bakeries’ General Manager Carl Hampson showcased the operation at the Stockport bakery in producing in producing bread for supermarket shoppers while faced with unprecedented demand. The programmed captured how the start of the art bakery and logistical facility rose to the challenges posed by the crisis, and how it did so in the face of higher levels of sickness and the need for social distancing on the production line.

The show will also feature Allied Bakeries’ links with Stockport Council, and how they have collaborated in providing food parcels to the most vulnerable in the borough.

Presenter Ade Adepitan said:

Watching people legging it out of supermarkets with packets of self-raising flour, stacks of loo rolls and seeing empty shelves in my local grocery stores was surreal. It made me realise that before the pandemic hit the UK, I took food and all the systems that are in place to get it to our tables for granted. Whilst making this show I met the people who are helping to keep these systems running smoothly, and found out how they coped when our food supply chain was pushed to almost breaking point.”

Keeping Britain Fed will air on Wednesday 17th June at 8pm on BBC2, and be available on-demand through BBC iPlayer.