If you’re going to name your business The Guernsey Biscuit, you had better make sure your take on the local delicacy cuts the mustard.
Luckily for the Castel-based bakery and shop, its Guernsey biscuits have been given the seal of approval by many happy customers since the company launched in November 2019.
Along with gâche and gâche melée, its traditional Guernsey products have become its best-sellers, and when staff hear, ‘That’s how my mother used to make it,’ they know they’re on to a good thing.
‘That’s the best compliment we hear. Our Guernsey biscuits are the thing I’m most proud of,’ said Chantal Rautenbach of The Guernsey Biscuit.
‘Our bakers Julie and Sonia make them from scratch every day. Julie found some old Guernsey recipe books and customers have brought in their own family recipes, and she combined elements to come up with something we feel is the most authentic biscuit.
‘There was one gentleman who came in. His dad had been a baker on The Bridge and he brought in his old handwritten recipe book for us to look at. It was a lovely thing to see.’
A shop for all things local
The shop’s two bakers make everything from breads to sweet pastries. But the bakery is just half of the story. The Guernsey Biscuit is also a shop specialising in local produce, bringing together fresh vegetables, meat from Wallow farm, yoghurt from Smithfield farm, Guernsey dairy, Castel eggs as well as cheeses, including Golden Guernsey Goat Cheese.
The intention, said Chantal, was to bring some of the island’s best food and ingredients under one roof.
‘We have some wonderful local producers on the island and a lot of them don’t have a shop front or a place where people can buy their products – that’s what we wanted The Guernsey Biscuit to be, a shop front for local produce,’ said the South African, who moved to Guernsey in 1998 to work as a pastry chef.
‘What was really great to see in lockdown was the emphasis people put on buying local. We have a delivery service and we got a lot of new customers during that time. Coming out of lockdown, we’re hearing a lot about ‘Guernsey together,’ and ‘Revive and thrive,’ but what we’re seeing is people going back to the supermarkets, which is a real shame.’
The legacy of lockdown
The business, which is part of the Food Service Co., saw a new corporate customer base develop during lockdown, as companies bought staff care packages filled with local goodies and baked good, as well as vouchers. However, the wholesale side of operations took a hit as hospitality businesses battled the effects of lockdown and travel restrictions to the island.
‘That side of the business was hit badly. We ended up giving a lot of our wholesale products to charity and I’ve not put in orders for them again.’
Post-lockdown and not only is Chantal seeing customers revert to old consumer habits but she’s noticed that customer spend has also shrunk as a result of the financial impact of the pandemic.
‘Throughout lockdown, people supported us and now we’ve come out of it, I think there’s the realisation that this situation is going to last much longer than expected, so people are being careful with their money. Like a lot of businesses right now, surviving is the biggest challenge for us,’ she said.
‘But we’re doing everything we can to promote what we do. We’re lucky to live in an island that has so much wonderful produce and we’re going to keep reminding people of that.’