Familiar faces back in Inverness bakery after Australia sojourn
When Diane and Alan Wallace returned to Inverness after six years in Australia to open their own bakery, it turned into a true homecoming.
Before they left for Sydney, the couple had founded Three Little Bakers, which had continued as a successful business in their absence.
When they returned to Inverness to found new business, The Bakery, they found an ideal location in their former premises on Tomnahurich Street.
"The shop we are in now was originally our property when we owned Three Little Bakers," Mrs Wallace explained.
"We started with one little shop in the corner and paid extra to get a small oven and we have just grown so much in the last eight years."
That led to an expansion when the couple took over the neighbouring unit.
"We refreshed the whole place when we took over the place next door," Mrs Wallace continued.
"We put more of our personality into it, and designed it ourselves.
"We use good ingredients and wanted to give it that quality feel we aim for."
The couple have also introduced new products, including sourdough bread.
"Because we are such a small bakery, we can choose to change our range whenever we feel like it. It keeps a bit of variety going," Mrs Wallace said.
Although The Bakery temporarily lost some commercial customers during lockdown, it remained busy and introduced a delivery service.
One new product proved particularly popular – an afternoon tea box with a selection of cakes.
"We ended up putting out 400 of them," Mrs Wallace revealed.
"I hadn’t realised how much people missed going for afternoon tea."
