Tom Molnar teamed up with Gail Mejia to open the first Gail’s Bakery in 2005

What’s it like to run major bakery brand, Gail’s Bakery?

We chatted with Tom Molnar, the CEO, to find out.

The bakery boss, 54, talked with us about using his loaf in London and the lessons he learned from lockdown.

Was it always obvious how you’d earn your dough?

Growing up, my Sicilian grandmother used to bake and we called her Grandma Bread. I went to college in America, then worked in France and Switzerland, home of great bread.

My dream was to become a sustainable fish farmer but when I arrived in London in 1999 I couldn’t find a decent loaf of bread to eat with a coffee.

I couldn’t believe such a great foodie city was so lacking in bakeries so I set out to find one to invest in along with my partner, Ran Avidan.

I shortlisted them and Gail Mejia was the most desperate. She sold incredible artisan loaves to restaurants but she was only just surviving. We launched our first Gail’s in Hampstead in 2005.

You acted as delivery driver when you started…

In the early days I used to do a lot of slicing and packing at 2am, and then the driving. Now I tend to wash the dishes or the floors.