“It’s funny that there are so many food businesses – particularly bakeries and breweries – started by people who have come out of the tech industry. It’s like it’s some sort of reaction to the world of tech, when you just think, ‘I’ve got to go and do something real.’”
Wes Burden is speaking to Broadsheet from his hometown of Folkestone, where he started his craft bakery and brewery in a tiny shipping container on the harbour arm in 2016. Over the past 10 years he and business partner Pete Nelson have, if you’ll excuse the pun, slowly fermented Docker Bakery: an independent business that now employs 50 people across east Kent, and boasts four sites – including its latest, in Dover – across the county, as well as a healthy roster of wholesale clients.
Docker expanded into its current, larger, bakery in Folkstone’s Park Farm industrial estate in 2024, and also has a space in Canterbury’s The Goods Shed. Last summer it opened in Ashford, and now comes its first sit-down cafe, in Dover. It’s just launched in The Bench, Dover Council’s groundbreaking new creative centre, which is the future home of Screen South (which supports film and TV in the south of England), and the creative and arts wing of East Kent College.
It’s a significant move for the bakery, a showcase project for the council and a big stride for the ongoing regeneration of Dover, an area the duo had its eyes on for a while. “We knew there was a want for something a bit more independent in Dover, and there have been a few great places cropping up, like The Art Club and Rebels sauna and cafe on the sea front,” Burden says. “It felt like a good time to become part of that thing that’s happening there and hopefully be a part of what pushes it forward.”
A further draw was that, as part of its contract, Docker will be providing sandwiches and lunches to college students who qualify for free school meals. “The hope is that we can provide them with healthy, nutritious and tasty food and give them a good meal in the daytime,” Burden says.
The 34-cover cafe, which has both indoor and outdoor seating, serves bread, pastries, coffee, the brewery’s beer on tap, and a succinct menu of hefty sandwiches, soups and stews. Docker’s minimal design fits perfectly with the sharp, modern architecture of The Bench building, which holds a prime position just a couple of minutes from the town’s Market Square and marina.
When the pair set up shop as Docker, it was a weekend business. “It was very basic at the start,” Burden says. “We made the shipping container clean and tidy and food safe, but there were no windows. We bought some second hand small but commercial equipment from eBay, and at first we were just doing a couple of bakes a week, and we slowly built it up from there. It wasn’t some great grand plan, it was driven by the products and a love of baking and brewing, and doing both those things as best as we could.”
The quality of the sourdough, beer and coffee coming out of the harbour arm spoke for itself, and demand grew through word of mouth, with increasing numbers of locals and visitors from neighbouring areas swinging in for loaves. “People loved the fact they could see it being made, and that it was the real deal. Once we saw there was such an appetite for it we had some ambition to try and grow the business, but to do it sustainably.”
Sustainability is a key part of Docker’s DNA, and sourcing flour from farms working regeneratively is high on the agenda. Wholemeal flour comes from Hinxhill Farm near Ashford, and all the rest comes from Wildfarmed, which is pioneering biodiversity in wheat farming.
Burden is plant-based, and this is reflected in the cafe’s menu. Docker has brought on chef Lee Desai, previously of Dr Legumes restaurant in Folkstone, to develop the cafe menu, which he does from a custom-built kitchen at the Folkestone unit.
There’s a savoury spinach and cheese swirl with cashew cheese, which is made in-house using the bakery’s sourdough starter. When cooked, the cheese has a baked ricotta texture that pairs beautifully with the swirl’s fennel and chilli. It’s one of Burden’s favourite menu items, along with the onion bhaji sandwich. Desai makes bhajis the size of the sourdough they’re sandwiched between, with pucker-sharp pickles and a yoghurt raita. “The smell of that onion bhaji permeates the bakery, it’s amazing,” Burden says.
“We both came from this world of computers and virtual projects. But with this, you create a good product and someone wants it,” Burden says. “It’s the simplest of transactions: you’re putting something nutritious in their hands that they’re going to enjoy, and they’re paying you for it. It’s so satisfying.”
Docker Bakery Dover
The Bench, 15 Bench Street, Dover CT16 1JW
01303883222
Hours:
Mon to Sat 8am–4pm
