Business mogul: Romesh Ranganathan at Coughlan’s with his new partners, including Sean Coughlan (left)
TV personality Romesh Ranganathan has bought a share in Coughlan’s Bakery, the Thornton Heath-based family-run business.
The actor and comedian revealed the deal in a video shot outside one of the bakery chain’s shops with the company’s director, Sean Coughlan.
“I’m the most excited about this announcement,” Ranganathan said, “because it is something that I’ve wanted to get involved with for a long, long time.
“Is it right, we are in business together?” the comic turned to ask Coughlan. “Yeah… partnership.
“I am Romesh Coughlan.
“I’m going to be working in the shops. We’re going to be doing gigs. It’s gonna be amazing…
It’s official: the video announcement, made to Ranganathan’s 1.1million Instagram followers
“In all seriousness, I’ve loved Coughlan’s for ages… I’m very, very excited. This is, like, the partnership of the century.”
It can’t be stated with any certainty, but it seems likely that the video was unscripted.
Ranganathan’s investment is undisclosed, but comes after a four-year period of unprecedented growth for the family firm that was established in 1937. Since the covid lockdown in 2020, Coughlan’s has gone from 19 to 31 stores, the latest to open being in Ranganathan’s home town of Crawley, where the announcement video was shot.
“It’s the first time in our 87 years that we’ve had a non-family member on the board,” Sean Coughlan, grandson of the business’s founder and the third generation of the family to run the business, said.
“It feels like family and we’re very much welcome him into our family.”
Coughlan told British Baker that he was “super proud” to have Ranganathan as part of the family business.
According to the trade title, Ranganathan first reached out to Coughlan’s eight years ago to order vegan food.
Ranganathan and Coughlan’s have since collaborated on the launch of the vegan Ranga Yum Yum, which is topped with chocolate and Biscoff crumbs. Originally created for just a limited run of two months to help raise money for suicide prevention charity CALM – the Campaign Against Living Miserably – it proved so popular it remains on sale at all Coughlan’s shops, all supplied twice a day from the firm’s Thornton Heath bakery.
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