Greenhalgh's Craft Bakery rise to the mince pie challenge

And on Wednesday, December 20, Greenhalgh's celebrated completing its last run of mince pies with enough on the shelves to see people enjoy the treat well into Christmas holiday season.

This year, say directors of the bakery, there has been a huge increase in demand for mince pies.

Greenhalgh's invited The Bolton News down to their two sites in Lostock to see  what goes on behind the scenes of their bakery at what is undoubtedly one of the busiest times of year for the bakers.

Stephen Smart, Bakery Director at Greenhalgh's said each run of mince pies sees around 35,000 to 40,000 made and the company has seen a huge uptake in popularity for the sweet treat.

He said: “Mince pies are gaining more and more popularity, and they seem to be bucking the trend on dried fruit.

“So, fruit slab, Christmas cake and even Christmas puddings we make nothing like what we used to, but mince pies seem to be bucking the trend.

“If you ask why I think they have survived the cut when others haven’t, I could guess and say that I personally think they are a lot sweeter whereas Christmas cake and Christmas pudding can be quite dry, so maybe it is a palatable thing.

@theboltonnews We took a look behind the scenes of mince pies being made at Greenhalgh’s Craft Bakery 🤩 #greenhalghscraftbakery #theboltonnews ♬ Christmas - neozilla

“They seem to have survived whatever modern trend has against dried fruit.

“It has been very successful this year, last year and the year before there has been a noticeable trend, this year very much so more than others.

“This year we must have had at least a dozen more customers come on board with each (trade) customer bringing around 40,000 or 60,000 mince pies with them, I have seen a noticeable trend of not just numbers but also customers wanting it as well.

“There has been a definite upswing, and I couldn’t tell you what has been driving it but over the last three years it has been noticeable, and more so this year.

“They have been very popular this year.”

The casing being filled with mince (Image: NQ)Whilst taking a tour of the production line, Stephen spoke about the processes behind the creation of mince pies.

He said: “We have several processes that go into making mince pies, it just depends on the type we are making.

“So, we have a relatively new mince pie which is quite a bit wider and those are made on machines, but it is fairly labour intensive, we don’t make too many of those.

“We also have a deep dish one which next year will be on the big machine because this year we have made 400,000 of those practically by hand so they are getting towards needing a big machine next year.

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“We have the Viennese mince pies made on the machines and the ones we make on the big machines are what we call our traditional mince pies and I think we have made something of 650,000 of those this year.

“The big machine at our Lostock Lane site will make around 35,000 to 40,000 mince pies a day.

“Each year we probably make around 1.5 million and we tend to sell out.

“On our final run today, we will be making two pallets, so it is a fairly short run, but they have been selling well and we needed to make more.”

Greenhalgh's have had mince pies on their menu since the inception of the business.

Stephen said: “We have been making mince pies here since the beginning.

"My grandad bought the business in 1957, it was a mid-terrace house/bakery then, and the company was still called Greenhalgh's because it was named after someone called Jim Greenhalgh before my grandad bought it and my grandad was bakery manager for him, and they were making mince pies all the way back to the war."

Mince pies coming out of the oven (Image: NQ)We asked Stephen if there is a secret recipe, he said: “We don’t go as far some companies do, some companies will give each ingredient a code word and only certain people know it, we are not that bad.

"We have our own recipe for it, and we put it out to tender and see how well people make our recipe.

“The recipes come in and we do blind taste panels in here and see which one’s people prefer; it is the same recipe but depending on where people buy ingredients it can change slightly each year, having a different taste or texture.

“The recipe of the mince pies is arranged a minimum of 12 months before we use it so that the buckets of mince can mature.

“We do have a bit of a process what we believe adds something else to the product, but I wouldn’t go as far as saying they’re secret.

“We are a traditional craft baking business, so we use traditional methods.”

Stephen said the best thing about making mince pies is seeing their success.

He said: “It is always nice when people buy the mince pies, as a business that’s very important, but at this time of year people really start getting excited for Christmas and the atmosphere changes and people’s attitudes change and I think it is a nice little starter for the Christmas period.

“Once we start making mince pies, we see a positive up trend so that’s a benefit of making mince pies.

“I never get fed up of making them but I do get fed up of eating them!”

If you have a story or something you would like to highlight in the community, please email me at chloe.wilson@newsquest.co.uk or DM me on X @chloewjourno.