Peckham father and son's homemade Jamaican patties back at Aldi for 99p after selling out

Homemade Jamaican patties created by a father and son from Peckham are hitting Aldi shelves for the second time. The pair proved to be fan favourites on Channel 4's show Aldi's Next Big Thing when they won the baking category of series 2 and since their first run of Flake Bake Beef patties sold out so quickly, Aldi has been inundated with requests for more.

Paul and Mike Williams have now landed a second order of their Flake Bake Jamaican patties which will hit Aldi shelves again nationwide from today (Thursday, May 9) for 99p each. Flake Bake was launched in 2012, four years after Paul, 54, bought the retail unit housing the original bakery he worked in when he moved from Jamaica in the 90s.

Since then they have sold more than six million patties but it was entering Channel 4' s 'Aldi's Next Big Thing' that saw the scale of the business truly skyrocket. Mike Williams, 33, told MyLondon that the victory felt 'surreal'. "I was just a guy making patties in a bakery in Peckham and selling them to anybody that wanted to buy and now we are going to be on a supermarket shelf," he said. "Its such a great accomplishment."

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Flake Bake, owned by Mike and his dad Paul, 54, handmake 20,000 patties a week in their south London premises and have now partnered with a big manufacturer to keep their authentic look and flavours and supply them to over 1,000 Aldi stores. Mike first heard about the show when his friend sent him a link to an application in June 2023.

Flake Bake produces authentic Jamaican patties, filled with a range of flavours including chicken, lamb, saltfish and vegetables – a Jamaican twist on the beloved British Cornish pasty.

He said: "We had a lot of debts coming out of Covid and I thought closing was probably the best thing to do. My friend sent me a link to the application and I thought if I am going to close up then I've got nothing to lose.

"Four days after I applied I heard back from the production company. My dad was in Jamaica and we had a Zoom call with them and they liked the idea of me and my dad working together."

The following months were crazy for the duo, they had to present their product to Julie Ashfield, Managing Director of Buying at Aldi UK, work on their packaging and branding and figure out how to expand the shelf life of their patties. Producing thousands of patties a week, Flake Bake also has social responsibility and community values baked into its core.

Working with local charity, Leaders of Tomorrow UK as well as local schools, it provides work placements for students at its factory. Most notably, the family business trained and mentored BBC Young Master Chef contestant, Jaheel John, then just 15 years old. Jaheel is now an Assistant Manager at a major British restaurant, at the tender age of 19.

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