Gareth joined Thomas the Baker as a Maintenance Manager in December 2008, having previously worked at another family run business since leaving school. He brought to Thomas' a quite varied skill set having held a variety of positions with his former employer over 20 years, including Wood Machinist, Machine Shop Manager, Site Manager, Network & Systems Manager and IT Manager.
Initially, his role focused on Shop and Bakery Maintenance, with IT forming a very small part of his working week. However, with his many Microsoft qualifications and logical approach to problem solving, it soon became apparent that IT would become a more involved aspect of his job. Gareth now works full time as our IT manager, looking after all our information and communication systems. Over the last few years he has been working hard to improve and streamline various parts of the business. Whether it be new tills in the shops to improve customer service, replacing old equipment with modern reliable technology, installing new ordering/production software to contribute to the smooth running of the bakery or replacing the recipe and scale system to improve product consistency, Gareth always strives to achieve the best possible results.
Although he is now office based, he can still occasionally be found in the bakery with his overalls on and a spanner in his hand helping out on the maintenance side – although we think he's just does it because he enjoys getting dirty!
Out of work Gareth enjoys some non-technology interests, including reading fantasy novels and going off walking with his wife in the country side. Every year both Gareth and his wife (our Financial Director) enjoy a week in the Lake District walking, but he always takes his laptop – just in case we need him! A few years ago Gareth and Nicola had gone a bit further to a sunnier climate, we were having a problem with our BACS payment system – 'no problem' Gareth replies to the text we sent him, "I'll dial in and fix it, the internet connection is pretty good here in Antigua".