American-Style Bakery Brings “Little Piece of Heaven” to UK General Retailers

August 29, 2013, London, U.K., – Authentic American-style baking brand, The Hummingbird Bakery, today announced its plans to extend into new product categories through licensing, working with leading global brand licensing agency, Beanstalk. Building on the company’s reputation as frontrunners of the UK cupcake and American-style bakery revolution, Beanstalk will be looking for best-in-class licensing partners across a range of food and non-food items including ice cream, chocolate, biscuits, cake decorations, syrups and flavoured teas as well as authentic American bakeware, kitchen textiles and kitchen appliances.

Widely renowned for its delicious freshly baked cupcakes, pies and other American-inspired treats, The Hummingbird Bakery offers a unique visual and gourmet feast that has captured the hearts and taste buds of UK consumers since the opening of its first London branch in 2004. Grounded in the nostalgic notion of quintessential American baking, the company is as well-known for its indulgent product offerings as for its blissfully decorated bakery branches. The brand has become an authority of American-style baking in the UK, as evident in the popularity of its five London bakeries as well as the phenomenal success of its three chart-topping cookbooks, The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook, Cake Days, and Home Sweet Home, which have collectively sold over one million copies in the UK alone.

Tarek Malouf, Founder and Managing Director of The Hummingbird Bakery, comments, “Following the success of our cookbooks and with the ever increasing popularity of our stores, consumers are now asking us for new ways to enjoy the brand and for the authentic materials to try our recipes at home. Through licensing, we will be able to offer customers Hummingbird Bakery branded products to create their own Hummingbird experiences, as well as being able to enter general grocery stores with new and exciting food categories that build on The Hummingbird Bakery’s most popular flavour profiles. We look forward to growing our retail presence in new areas together with Beanstalk, one of the world’s leading specialists in building brand licensing programmes.”

Ciarán Coyle, President of Beanstalk, Europe & Asia Pacific, says, “The Hummingbird Bakery’s broad consumer awareness and strong emotional connection with consumers have together created an extensive online fan base as well as a widespread group of loyal offline supporters that are keen to experience the brand in new ways. By expanding its offerings through licensing, the company will strengthen its position as the go-to experts on American-style baking and give both loyal and new customers an opportunity to enjoy the Hummingbird brand in new products and occasions. “

About The Hummingbird Bakery The Hummingbird Bakery is an American-style bakery founded in 2004 to bring the authentic taste of American home baking to London. The company has five branches across London and also recently launched a branch in Dubai through franchise agreement. It also has three bestselling cookbooks published, The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook (2009) and Cake Days (2011) and Home Sweet Home (2013), which together have achieved sales of more than one million copies in the UK. The Hummingbird Bakery prides itself on baking fresh at each of its branches throughout the day and on only using only the finest quality ingredients. Its customers in London are able to order online and take advantage of The Hummingbird Bakery delivery service. The Hummingbird Bakery is a privately held, self-funded company.

Website: hummingbirdbakery.com Facebook: facebook.com/HummingbirdBakery Twitter: @hummingbbakery

About Beanstalk Beanstalk, a global brand licensing agency and consultancy, extends brands through the strategic and creative development of licensed products. The company works with corporate brands, celebrities, entertainment properties, and other high-profile clients to leverage licensing as a strategic tool to enhance brand awareness, increase consumer touch-points, and generate revenue. Beanstalk also offers a breadth of additional licensing services including direct-to-retail program management, license acquisition for manufacturers and royalty auditing. The company is headquartered in New York, with offices in London, Los Angeles, Miami, and Hong Kong, and affiliates throughout the world. For more information, please visit www.beanstalk.com. Beanstalk is a part of Diversified Agency Services, a division of Omnicom Group Inc.

About Diversified Agency Services Diversified Agency Services (DAS), a division of Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE:OMC) (www.omnicomgroup.com), manages Omnicom's holdings in a variety of marketing communications disciplines. DAS includes over 200 companies, which operate through a combination of networks and regional organizations, serving international and local clients through more than 700 offices in 71 countries.