JEDDAH: Swedish chef Niklas Yousef Johansson and his Welsh partner have launched an artisanal bakery in Jeddah, drawing customers from across the city as well as from Riyadh and Makkah.
The pair opened Fox & Irish bakery in February this year, operating from a small space inside Al-Kaki supermarket in Al-Safa district. Since then, long queues have formed ahead of opening hours as demand has grown.
Before moving to Saudi Arabia, the two trained and worked in bakeries across Sweden, the UK, France and Turkiye, refining their craft and exploring international baking traditions before deciding to open their own venture.
“Our concept is simple — only fresh, natural ingredients and traditional methods are used to make our artisanal sourdough and pastries,” Johansson told Arab News.
Through a mutual Saudi friend who also worked in the industry, they secured a space at the supermarket.
“Having your own space is probably every pastry chef’s dream but we took things slowly. The owner of Al-Kaki’s supermarket is a friend of ours, he offered us a small corner to start our business,” Johansson said.
He noted that the plan to open a bakery in Saudi Arabia started two years ago but they had to study the market first. “Once we agreed on everything to enter the Saudi market with our new project, we decided to start small and take things step by step,” he said.
Johansson, a Muslim convert also known as Yousef who landed in Jeddah three months ago, added: “We opened our bakery during the first day of Ramadan and during the first four days of the holy month, we had no customers at all but after the help of a Saudi friend who posted online a video featuring our fresh sourdough bread and cinnamon rolls. The video went viral. Since then, Alhamdullah, we have noticed a massive boost in our sales.”
The Swede expressed his happiness living in Saudi Arabia and residing close to the Two Holy Mosques. “I embraced Islam 20 years ago and just arrived to Saudi Arabia four months ago.
“I am extremely happy to be here, this happiness that I am feeling could not be expressed in words especially when I am close to the Two Holy Mosques.”
After their video caught the eye of viewers and went viral on the internet, Arab News also headed to their location and witnessed the long line of customers who swarm the counter an hour ahead of the opening.
Until they can afford to hire and train a baking crew, they are both personally baking everything themselves to ensure quality control.
“We are sourcing all our ingredients from Sweden, UK and other parts of Europe to ensure we are catering the original tastes,” Johansson explained. “For example, we use the organic butter from New Zealand for the sourdough breads and add Belgium chocolate for the cinnamon rolls.”
Johansson said he wants to offer the community the best European tastes and quality. “Our aim is to create a high-quality bakery with reasonable prices here in Jeddah.
“It is not about money but we want to offer good quality products with reasonable prices,” he added.
Asked about any challenges that they have encountered, he explained that opening a bakery anywhere in the world is not easy, “because it is a new country, new rules, new challenges,” he noted.
