North Wales catering company The Pudding Compartment is marking a decade of serving passengers on the West Coast Main Line.
The company is a small bakery, and is based in Flint, which overlooks the North Wales stretch of the West Coast Main Line.
Since the start of its work on the line ten years ago, The Pudding Compartment has served more than seven million individual items to passengers travelling between London and North Wales, Scotland and the north west.
The bakery has been working with Avanti West Coast since December 2019, when the operator took over the franchise from Virgin Trains.
When it was first set up, The Pudding Compartment was based in Abergele, employed three workers, and mostly served small businesses in North Wales. However, the success of its contract with West Coast Main Line passengers has led to significant growth, with the company now employing ten times as many staff.
Its most popular product is its hand-wrapped shortbread. The product has changed during the last decade, as bakers adjust the taste to follow changing trends.
The Pudding Compartment // Credit: Avanti West Coast
The Pudding Compartment celebrated its ten years of service this week by baking some bespoke items for Avanti West Coast.
Over the last ten years, the company has supplied both regular menu items and bespoke bakes. These include Uncle Joe’s Mint Ball brownie, which was produced in the collaborative project between the bakery, Wigna confectionery company Uncle Joe’s and Avanti West Coast Train Manager, Helen May, who devised the recipe. The brownie joined the operator’s First Class menu and is still made in the Flintshire bakery.
Avanti’s contract with The Pudding Compartment is just one of the contracts it has with food and drink suppliers based in the areas its train service travels through. This year, it added low-alcohol beer produced by a Birmingham brewery to its menu.
The Pudding Compartment // Credit: Avanti West Coast
“It has been an honour to serve the customers of the West Coast Main Line for the last decade. Being able to see Avanti’s trains pass by the window of our bakery knowing there are customers onboard enjoying our products is something that still makes me and the rest of the team smile every day.
“There’s no doubt that the relationship we have with Avanti has added towards the success of our business. We receive some lovely feedback from customers all over the UK and the majority of that has come from people who have tried our products whilst travelling along the West Coast. We hope that customers continue to enjoy our products in the years to come, and we’re excited to see where our combined ideas will take us next!”
Steve West, Director of the Pudding Compartment