The heat is on for bakers inside Greggs

Forget being caretaker of a tropical Australian island - the best job in the world may just be at Greggs bakery in Birmingham.

Workers who make the cream cakes, doughnuts and sausage rolls have to taste the products before they are sent out on the road.

Working at Greggs is a family affair for Julie Smith who has been at Greggs for 30 years along with her sister Debra Avery who has been there 34 years and brother Tony Cahill who has worked at the bakery for 36 years.

Debra, aged 49, from Bromford, Birmingham says: "Tony was the one who started working here first and he got us both jobs when we left school.

"When we were with Braggs, before Greggs took them over, there were only a few different products being made, but now it is enormous."

Julie, aged 46, says: "I was getting into nursing and thought I would only come here for a while.

"We all have plans to stay with Greggs for as long as we can - until we drop."

Roy Horobin, 46, from Kidderminster is the man who puts the custard in a Greggs doughnut and he has been working at the Birmingham bakery for 27 years.

"Every day is different," says the father-of-one. We have a tasting kitchen where the products are tested daily by workers to check they are just right to go out to our shops.

"I much prefer our doughnuts to any others and when I walk into a Greggs shop I see the doughnuts and think 'I made that'."

Roy, who lives near Stone Manor in Kidderminster, is just one of the many people who has been at Greggs most of their working lives.

Production manager Steve Bibby says it is the family atmosphere that keeps people at the bakery, which is on Mainstream Way in Saltley.

"Anyone at the bakery can come up with a recipe," says Steve, aged 39, who has worked at the bakery for four years, and his sweet tooth has meant he has put on four stone in that time.

"We are keen to create products that the customer wants, rather than what is easy to make.

"Our sausage and bean melt was something that was suggested by a worker.

"There are not many places where you can come up with an idea and it can end up being tested and then launched nationwide."

Greggs took over from Newcastle-based Braggs around 15 years ago and since then the company has blossomed and they now open between eight and 10 new shops a week.

Steve says: "People feel proud to be part of the company and there are a lot of employees who have brothers, sisters and partners working alongside them."

To make the fresh bloomer loaves Greggs use flour, water, yeast, salt, fats and improvers that bind the mixture together into a dough.

Around 200 kilos of dough is put into a mixer and then separated and moulded into the right shape.

Then the dough goes into a prover where it rises before being baked at 320 degrees for 35 minutes.

Steve, who lives in Nuneaton, says: "We don't use additives, which means the products are fresher but they go stale quicker - they are made to last one day and three at the most.

"Anything that is sent back to us at the end of the day is given to the Salvation Army and other charities.

"We have deliveries being made from 2am and the last ones are at 5pm for the shops that stay open until 3am.

"We have 41 vehicles and do about 30 runs a day - it is all about having fresh products on the shelves."

Greggs of the Midlands make deliveries as far away as Derbyshire, Peterborough, Northampton, Market Harborough and Shrewsbury.

Hand-rolling the Belgian buns is Syud Hassa, aged 35, from Erdington.

"It does take some skill to be able to roll the mixture for the Belgian buns," he says.

"I have done almost every job now and it is great to be able to make fresh bread."

Changes are regularly made to products at Greggs and in the last few weeks the Belgian buns have been re-launched and they now have more fruit -- they have also put a cherry on the top for the first time.

Steve says: "We have a fantastic new range of muffins - lemon sensation, raspberry and white chocolate and Belgian Chocolate.

"We did an independent consumer survey and nine out of 10 people preferred our muffins to the more expensive ones you find in other shops.

"However, even though we do change our products we don't like to ditch our tradition as a family bakers.

"So, we still use techniques like hand-rolling the Belgian buns to ensure they don't have a mass produced feel to them.

"We want our workers to be so happy with the product they make that they feel a surge of pride every time they walk past a Greggs shop."