Lottie Shaw’s can put much of its success, in recent years at least, down to one product: parkin. The gingerbread cake, which is made with oatmeal and black treacle, is described by the business as its ”beating heart”.
Lottie Shaw’s Yorkshire Parkin was this month awarded gold in the 2025 Farm Shop & Deli Product Awards, Next month, the business will exhibit at Food & Drink Expo, part of the UK Food & Drink Shows taking place at the NEC Birmingham from 7 April to 9 April.
The show appearance will be the latest event in a whirlwind 12 months for Lottie Shaw’s, which produces a host of goods including flapjacks, millionaire’s shortbread, biscuits and fruit cake. In April 2024, it announced it was being acquired by Jacksons Bakery, part of the William Jackson Food Group.
Lottie Shaw’s is no stranger to change, however. Its origins can be traced to 1912, when Mary and Edith Harrison, great aunts of founder Charlotte Shaw, began baking authentic Yorkshire recipes in their Halifax shop.
The family business focused on baking bread until the early 1990s, when growing competition from national and regional bread producers prompted the family to diversify.
“The family knew they had something special with the recipes from their family bakes, especially the parkin, so they diversified away from bread and into baked treats,” says Jacksons marketing & NPD director Helena Wright.
Charlotte and her husband, Ian, who have remained with the business following its acquisition, started by selling baked treats at Howarth Market.
“They would spend their evenings hand-tying their bakes, with even the children getting involved, before selling them at the market on Saturdays, so the business firmly remained a family affair,” adds Wright.
As the business grew, the family also sold its goods at country shows, and later farm shops, gift shops and delis.
Until 2018, Lottie Shaw’s operated from the original bakery the family had run since 1912. Then the business expanded into a purpose-built bakery in Brighouse, West Yorkshire, staffed by a 26-strong team that remains in place today.
The following year, a direct-to-consumer site was launched, which proved a timely and saw sales soar during Covid-19 lockdowns.
By 2024, as Charlotte and Ian realised the business needed “a bigger engine” to develop further, it was approached by Jacksons.
“We wouldn’t have sold our business to just anyone,” Charlotte said at the time the acquisition was announced. “We needed to find a home with a family which will care about our team and the products we make just as much as we do.”
Jacksons’ first objective is to grow awareness of Lottie Shaw’s, it says. This has been kicked off with a brand refresh that has included updating the Lottie Shaw’s logo and adding an ‘of Yorkshire’ tagline.
“Our research revealed that our Yorkshire heritage is a huge marker of quality and provenance for our brand, so the addition of the ‘of Yorkshire’ tagline really speaks to that, which we believe will resonate both inside and outside the county,” says Wright.
That heritage is reflected in the brand’s use of local ingredients wherever possible. The flour is milled in Yorkshire, the oatmeal is produced by one of the oldest family firms in England, and printed product boxes are sourced and printed in Yorkshire.
The new look was designed to emphasise the quality of the brand, while using colour to help consumers navigate the range.
“Adding signposting through the use of colour gives us a solid base on which to develop our range further, while bringing the consumer with us,” adds Wright.
Yorkshire Parkin will remain at the core of the range and can be found in Lottie Shaw’s products including biscuits, chocolate buttons with Yorkshire Parkin and even a Yorkshire Parkin Easter egg.
It is still baked to the original family recipe dating back more than a century. The black treacle in the cake caramelises during baking and, in keeping with tradition, is allowed to rest and soften, or ’come again’, before leaving the bakery.
“It’s this process which gives the cake its perfect, crumbly stickiness,” says Wright.
The quality of the parkin certainly wasn’t lost on the Farm Shop & Deli Product Awards judges, who this month handed it a gold, declaring it “seriously good” while also praising the branding.
The award cemented the hard work of the Lottie Shaw’s team, says Wright, adding that the business doesn’t take the accolade for granted.
“Winning this supports us in our mission to raise awareness of this cherished, great tasting product nationwide,” she adds. “Yorkshire Parkin isn’t just to be enjoyed in Yorkshire.”
No comments yet