Bread Ahead became globally recognisable through doughnuts. But Matthew Jones still talks like a baker first.
“You can become obsessed with perfection and control in Michelin kitchens,” he tells MOJEH MEN. “But when things fall apart financially or professionally, you realise resilience matters more than ego.”
Before Bread Ahead expanded into Dubai, Riyadh, Bangkok, and soon New York, Jones was rebuilding himself inside Borough Market, where success was stripped back to something brutally simple: customers either bought the bread or they didn’t.
“There’s nowhere to hide,” he says. “That honesty taught me more than any award ever did.”
That environment shaped Bread Ahead long before it became an international brand. Borough Market, he says, rewards consistency over hype. The energy was fast-moving, demanding, slightly chaotic – and he never wanted to lose that edge as the business scaled.
“I still want people to smell the bread, see the bakers working, and feel the humanity behind it,” he says. “I never wanted polished luxury where everything feels over-designed.”
It’s a surprisingly resistant thought process in an era where hospitality brands are often built around aesthetics first and substance second. Bread Ahead’s crème brûlée doughnuts became one of London’s most photographed food products, but Jones is careful not to confuse virality with identity.
“The doughnuts get people through the door,” he says. “But bread is still the soul of the business.”
He speaks about trends cautiously, as though he has seen too many businesses mistake visibility for longevity.
“Viral products are brilliant – they create excitement – but they only last if the fundamentals are right,” he says. “Good fermentation, proper ingredients, skilled bakers, patience…that never changes.”
For Jones, modern baking has become increasingly tied to emotion and storytelling, but only when the craft underneath it remains intact.
“Storytelling without quality is empty,” he says. “But quality without connection can become forgettable.”
That connection became more visible during lockdown, when Bread Ahead’s audience evolved from customers into participants. People were no longer simply buying products; they were learning to bake themselves through online tutorials and classes.
“When you see queues forming before opening, or people telling you they learned to bake during lockdown because of your videos, you realise it’s bigger than retail,” he says. “It became about community, education, and shared enthusiasm around real baking.”
At the same time, Bread Ahead’s reputation was travelling well beyond London.
“It was probably when people started travelling across London – and then internationally – just for a doughnut or a baking class,” Jones says. “That’s when you realise it has become something much bigger than a bakery.”
That evolution became even more significant once the brand expanded into the GCC, where Jones quickly realised the region’s hospitality culture operated at a different level of intensity and sophistication.
“What surprised me most was how sophisticated and educated the customer is,” he says. “People in the GCC really understand hospitality and quality. They travel, they know global food culture, and they expect standards to be high.”
What struck him even more was the appetite not just for consuming artisan baking, but for learning it.
“People were genuinely enthusiastic about learning the craft themselves through the schools,” he says.
That dynamic has become increasingly important as Bread Ahead expands internationally across the Middle East, Asia, and the United States. But Jones resists the idea that growth should fundamentally change the identity of the business.
“You adapt around the edges, not at the core,” he says. “Authenticity is not about copying London everywhere. It is about staying truthful to your philosophy and craft wherever you are in the world.”
The GCC, he says, remains one of the most exciting regions for the company’s growth.
“There is a real appreciation there for quality, hospitality, and ambitious food concepts,” he says. “It’s a fantastic market to be part of.”
At the same time, the expansion pipeline continues moving rapidly. Bread Ahead is preparing to launch in Bangkok before opening its flagship New York bakery later this year – two markets that represent very different kinds of global food culture.
“There is a lot still to come,” Jones says.
What makes him unusual, though, is that he rarely speaks like someone obsessed with expansion for its own sake.
“I am not interested in hundreds of soulless bakeries,” he says.
Success, in his view, is not numerical. It is emotional and cultural.
“If in ten years people associate Bread Ahead with genuine baking excellence, education, and hospitality,” he says, “that is far more valuable than simply counting bakeries.”
That thinking now sits behind the Future Bakers Project, Bread Ahead’s initiative aiming to teach one million young people to bake over the next decade through workshops, digital learning, and community partnerships.
“Baking is a life skill,” he says. “It builds confidence, creativity, and connection.”
For Jones, education should feel practical rather than intimidating – something rooted in repetition, confidence, and real environments rather than rigid culinary formality.
“Too much culinary education still feels rigid or inaccessible,” he says. “Baking should be taught through touch, instinct, repetition, and confidence – not just theory.”
He also believes students need to understand the pressure and rhythm of real kitchens from the beginning.
“I’d reconnect education with real production environments so students understand pace, pressure, and consistency from day one.”
Across all the expansion, though, one principle remains non-negotiable.
“Fermentation time,” he says. “You cannot rush good bread.”
It sounds like a technical point, but it doubles as the core ethos behind everything Bread Ahead has become: a business scaling globally while trying not to lose the patience, discipline, and humanity that made people care about it in the first place.
