A proven success

“If it’s always consistently good, people will keep coming back, which means we’ll be able to keep doing it.”

On the edge of Ouseburn, in Hoult’s Yard, Proven Goods Co is a small but mighty bakery known for its monthly-rotating menu of handcrafted doughnuts, each one triple-proven for the perfect bite.

The creative forces behind the popular Newcastle bakery are Amber and Joe Millar, who met some years back while working in Waterstones in London – Amber sold books and Joe helped implement independent coffee shops into the stores.

It was almost serendipitous that their paths crossed, as these skills would later help them create their very own bakery.

Amber says: “Joe’s worked with coffee a lot in his life through previous jobs.

“I thought, ‘he’s got that skill, we can both learn to make doughnuts and bake – we might as well use these together to make something of our own’.”

Amber and Joe moved back up north in 2016.

Amber, who is originally from Epsom, near Surrey, says: “Joe is from the North East and had moved down, but I forced him to move back up because I thought the North East was amazing.

“I was just a typical ignorant Southerner that had never really been here before, and I couldn’t believe that there was the coast, the countryside and a really cool city right in the middle.

“Everything is so close together, and the region is just so friendly.

“I loved all the small businesses and the markets; it just felt like this would be such a nice place to live.”

With a love for baked goods and a notable absence of artisanal doughnut shops in the region at the time, Amber and Joe set out to fill the gap with their own unique creations.

Amber says: “Apart from Greggs, which is lovely, there wasn’t anywhere that was making proper, hand rolled doughnuts – we thought that was just really weird.”

It was in 2017 when the duo officially took the plunge and opened Proven Goods Co.

Amber says: “We wanted to try working for ourselves and building a business where we were running it in a way we thought was good, employing a nice team and making a nice place to work.

“We thought we might as well try it; we had nothing to lose.”

Despite a lack of formal baking training, Amber’s love for the craft and a keen interest in creating the perfect doughnut led her to dive into self-taught experimentation.

She says: “We were practicing for about six months.

“We would make them again and again, give them to people to try and just keep practicing.

“Looking back at them now, I think, ‘oh my god, they were so bad’.

“We’ve learned so much since then.”

Proven Goods Co began as a market stall, popping up at events across the region before opening its first bricks-and-mortar store in 2018.

In the six years since, the world – and the North East – has faced immense change.

The COVID-19 pandemic dealt a severe blow to the hospitality industry, yet Proven Goods Co weathered the storm.

Pivoting quickly to the changing rules and regulations, the team introduced a takeaway service that not only sustained the business but became a core part of its operations.

Today, its shop sees long queues every weekend, with eager customers lining up to sample the latest creations of its rotating menu.

And despite its continued success, Amber has remained grounded, prioritising quality over rapid expansion and embodying the ‘don’t run before you can walk’ philosophy perfectly.

She says: “People always ask us if we’re going to open another shop, or post across the UK.

“But we’ve always thought it is more important – at least for the first five years anyway –to really refine what we’re doing, in one place, and make sure it is always good.

“People choose to come to you to spend their money, so you need to be confident that what you’re making is worth what they’re paying.

“We really wanted to focus on making them as best we could, making the processes better, training people up and making that work really well.

“It has to be good so people want to come back.”

Amber adds: “I’d say now is a time where we’re working out where we can move to next, but obviously, at the same time, it’s a really hard environment to just survive at the moment.

“On one hand, you feel really lucky to just keep going month to month, and then you also have other dreams.

“It’s trying to keep that balance.”

With an industry inundated with corporate giants and high street staples, for independent bakeries, standing out requires a firm commitment to quality.

While bigger chains often prioritise speed and scale, Proven Goods Co has taken a different approach.

By putting quality first, it has proven independent businesses can thrive in an industry dominated by mass production, offering an experience that big brands would perhaps struggle to replicate.

Amber says: “If you’re having something special at the weekend, or you just want to treat yourself, that’s what independents are here for.

“It’s so nice to have the variety, and it’s also why we do it.

“We never came into it to just be business owners and sit back for profit.

“If that’s what you’re after, you’re in the wrong industry.”