About two decades ago, an officer of the Ghana Air Force, Foster Koffi Berbiye, was transferred to the Eastern Regional capital, Koforidua, to continue his service.
This transfer served as the genesis of B. Foster Bread, Ghana’s most famous bread brand, produced in Koforidua.
Foster Berbiye developed an interest in baking bread whilst in Koforidua and started baking for friends in a small oven in his house. His friends who realized how good the bread tasted urged him to expand it and go into commercial production. Foster Berbiye heeded to this advice, and began the production of his bread in commercial quantity, under the commercial name B. Foster Bakeries.
Over the course of the decades, the B. Foster Bread and brand has grown to become the biggest bread manufacturing firm in the country, producing what is arguably the finest bread in the whole of Ghana, with a market share that is envied by rival bakery companies.
B. Foster’s growth has been immense and systematic, in its early years, the bread managed to capture the entire Eastern region market and became a household name in the entire region.
Over the last few years, however, the success of the bread has not only been limited to Koforidua and its environs but in a greater part of the country, specifically the Southern part.Anyone who has ever had a taste of the bread will agree that it has a taste unique and different from all other bread and weighs heavier than any other bread type in the market; a feature which has still not been replicated by any other bakery company.
The company now boasts of about 50 chefs, has over 105 locations throughout the southern part of Ghana, especially the Eastern Region, and has expanded to produce four different types of bread; butter, wheat, brown and sugar bread as well as other pastries. Koforidua may be known for many things, but B. Foster has come to be the biggest attraction of the famous old city over the years.
And as an unwritten convention, for someone living in Koforidua, it is seen as a taboo to travel somewhere and not go with a B. Foster Bread. The mere mention of Koforidua is associated with the good old timeless bread.
Put in simply, the union between B. Foster and Koforidua is one that has defied time and age, a bond that continues to grow strong and symbolic, started over two decades ago on the foundation of passion.
Credit: :jetsanza.com
