Martin Burke, who was previously Marketing Director at Bettys & Taylors of Harrogate, will be tasked with strengthening e-commerce channels at the bakery café chain and its sister company Bakers + Baristas
Patisserie Valerie expects future growth to be driven by its direct-to-consumer online cake delivery service | Photo credit: Farouq Taj
UK-based bakery-café chain Patisserie Valerie has appointed Martin Burke as its new Group Chief Marketing Officer.
Burke, who previously served as Marketing Director at Bettys & Taylors of Harrogate from July 2016 to November 2022, will oversee marketing for Patisserie Valerie and its sister company Bakers + Baristas. The two companies merged in March 2020.
As well as leading the marketing strategy for the group’s combined 93 stores across the UK and Ireland, Burke will coordinate marketing for Patisserie Valerie’s e-commerce platform.
Group CEO James Fleming said Burke’s ‘impressive marketing track record’ and ‘expertise in e-commerce’ would help drive both brands forward.
“I’m looking forward to seeing how we can move in new and exciting directions, not just with our stores, but across our e-commerce channel to deliver innovative and delicious hand-crafted products to our customers nationwide,” Burke added.
Irish private equity firm Causeway Capital, an investor in Bakers + Baristas since 2015, rescued Patisserie Valerie out of administration in February 2019 after the bakery café chain was rocked by a £40m accounting scandal in October 2018.
In September 2022 Patisserie Valerie concluded a review of its estate and announced the permanent closure of nine sites it said were unlikely to recover from adverse trading during the pandemic.
The company said future growth was expected to be driven by its direct-to-consumer online cake delivery service and nationwide wholesale partnership with British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s.