20 Questions with The Early Bird Bakery

For many years now The Early Bird Bakery have been serving up delights in their cosy corner of Kings Heath, in Birmingham. The journey since then has seen them firmly cemented as a fans’ favourite and has lead to them opening their second venture in Perch earlier this year. For issue 50 of the NCASS Members’ Magazine, we sat down for 20 quickfire questions with co-owners Tim and Joe.

What are your names and what do you do?

Tim (co-owner and head pastry chef) and Joe (co-owner and front of house manager)

When did you get started (with the business)?

We started in November 2018 with the Early Bird Bakery, and launched Perch in March 2023.

And why did you decide to set up?

Tim had been working in Melbourne and really loved the cafe scene out there where brunch is just done really well – he moved back to Birmingham and was keen to replicate that kind of model, combining his love of pastry and brunch. While running a cake stall at the Digbeth Coffee Festival in 2018 he met Joe & his brother Tim, who decided to come on board and form the business, and the rest is history!

What was the first menu item you designed?

Cinnamon Roll French Toast – it came about from wanting to reduce waste, so we used any unsold cinnamon rolls to create French toast, and changed the toppings seasonally. It’s become one of the most popular items on the menu and is a regular staple to this day.

Are you sweet or savoury?

Both – we are a bakery first and foremost, producing viennoiserie and pattiserie, but our brunch has become incredibly popular too.

Complete the sentence: when we first started out, things were…

a lot cheaper! (flour, butter, electricity etc…)

Favourite thing to eat at breakfast?

Our Breakfast buns – everything you could possibly want for breakfast inside a freshly baked milk bun!

How did you find your space?

We just searched for vacant properties around south Birmingham, we knew we wanted it to be in that area. The site in Kings Heath came up, it had been a cafe before so already had walk-in fridges and the relevant licences, but the owners had to close very quickly for personal reasons so it seemed like the perfect choice.

Best thing about it?

The location, as it is close to Highbury Park – at first we were unsure as it was the quieter end of the street, whereas most of the action seemed to be around York Road. Overtime more businesses have opened this end which has attracted much more footfall.

Worst thing about it?

The space is quite small, we have capacity to seat around 26, however it has become apparent that we need a bigger kitchen to keep up with demand and more seats. We currently have queues of people waiting for tables at weekends which is a great problem to have, but understandably not everyone is happy waiting up to an hour for a table. A great opportunity came up this year to take over our neighbouring site – the site has the same landlord, so we have signed leases and are Crowdfunding to help with the renovations. We hope to have the larger space ready for October.

What do people HAVE to try when they’re at Early Bird Bakery or Perch?

Our pastries or our brunch – we are very proud of these, we think we have created quite a unique offering in Birmingham.

And how are things at Perch?

It’s a very different environment being in the city centre and we are still learning the differences between that and a suburban cafe. We don’t have a kitchen at Perch, so this limits our brunch offering and we are trying to push more takeaway and delivery – but so far it has been well received in the area, and the view of the red brick courthouse is stunning from the cafe!

What’s your favourite place to eat?

Eat Vietnam in Stirchley, Birmingham

And drink?

Grace & James in Kings Heath or Hop & Scotch

What is the best food experience you’ve ever had?

Paul Ainsworth in Padstow – the fairground desert platter is incredible!

What’s your guilty food secret?

You can’t beat crumpets with lashings of butter!

3 things you love about your customers:

They’re very loyal, we really feel like we have built a good community with our regular customers. They’ve been so supportive of everything we done, and they gave us a reason to keep going throughout the covid lockdowns

3 people / businesses you admire in the industry:

Bloom, who used to be in Kings Heath, we loved their brunch. Can Eat in Stirchley are really creative and there’s always something different to try. Honey & Co in London is a place we really admire and would love to do a similar sharing brunch platter.

3 things I wish I’d know when I was starting out:

1) Social media is an incredibly powerful marketing tool, we learnt quite quickly how important it was going to be and adopted a good strategy but it took time to get it right. 2) The importance of staff retention, it’s pretty high in hospitality so it’s crucial to come up with a reason for people to want to stay with you. 3) Get a space big enough for you to grow into!

If I ruled the world I would…

get rid of review platforms, so people can make up their own mind!

To find out more about The Early Bird Bakery and follow their journey click here. For more member features and relevant industry updates click here.