A FAST growing snack food firm is celebrating its first birthday with a boom in demand and jobs, writes David Duffy.

A year ago The Delicious Donut Company was renamed The Fabulous Bakin' Boys with its aim to do for sweet snacks what Phileas Fogg did for savoury.

The firm, which operates from a £2m 60,000 sq ft bakery in Station Lane, Witney, is now producing about 40 products and has plans to further expand on the site.

The company, which employs 75 people, bakes and distributes more than 500,000 muffins, flapjacks, cakes and cookies a week.

Since the launch the company has nearly doubled its customer base and now supplies selected Sainsbury's supermarkets, Co-ops, Woolworths, B2 and Budgens as well as smaller independent stores and petrol stations.

Their products can be found on most trains and rail platform kiosks and on some British Airways flights.

Managing director Gary Frank, a former Wall Street broker, said: "We didn't want to be another exceedingly boring cake company.

"Our bold approach has paid off with fantastic growth and a near doubling of our customer base."

He said the firm now employed almost double the number of staff than at the same time last year and he hoped the expansion would continue.

The company has also set up a charitable fund from which local groups dealing with child welfare can apply for grants.

Mr Frank added: "Our intention is to make Witney as famous for muffins as it once was for blankets. Our first birthday is a milestone. Our tenth will be fabulous."

The company recently scored a hit at the Baking Industry Awards in London and is also short-listed for an accolade at the Design Effectiveness Awards.

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