Thierry Paulin leafs through his work diary stopping at two pages crammed with names and addresses.

These are potential new customers who have contacted him since the beginning of the year.

There are 15 or 16 names but Thierry is quick to point out that not all will become customers.

"We are not the cheapest," he explains.

"That's not what our business is about."

He has recently moved to a new much larger purpose-built bakery on the Tewkesbury Business Park where each week he and his staff of five bakers produce 5,000 loaves, 7,000 croissant, chocolat pain, almond croissants - a particular speciality of Thierry's - and a variety of pastries.

And this is just the start.

There are 25 varieties of French bread alone.

Thierry deals almost entirely with the wholesale market supplying nearly every major deli in the region as well as several colleges, including daily deliveries to Cheltenham Ladies College.

"If a customer wants something different we will always try to oblige.

"Even if it's just a small line we will provide it as it makes our range larger and makes us more attractive to customers.

"We can do this because we're still quite small and able to adapt.

"It's much better for the customer to be able to get all that they want from us, rather than several suppliers.

"And, of course, it's better for us too."

Thierry is passionate about baking. And passion is something a good baker must have as the work is hard and the hours long and unsociable.

Thiery works six days a week, five baking and the sixth dealing with paperwork.

And his day usually starts when everyone else, including his two children, Yohan, aged 11, and four-year-old Lolita, are snug in their beds.

Thierry admits that moving into the new bakery has been like starting over again in many ways.

"I'm very proud of what we have achieved but it is a constant fight to build and keep building the business but at the same time it also brings good things," he said.

It's a far cry from the spring day 10 years ago when Thierry arrived in England with his wife Anifa and young child.

"We landed at Dover in our old Renault 4, our six-month-old son in the back, and bedding piled on top of the car," Thierry recalls.

"We had virtually no money but I did have a job waiting in Chipping Camden which I found through a magazine.

"We could only drive very slowly as the car was so loaded."

This was Thierry's second visit to England, the first being a school trip to London.

The intention was to stay just long enough to learn English and move on.

But, as their son grew, they decided to put down some roots.

It's a decision he does not regret and says he's not at all homesick for Dijon, his home town.

Two years after arriving, Thierry and Anifa opened their own business, working from a small shop and bakery in Mitton Way, Tewkesbury.

Thierry is the first to admit that, although he's a first-rate baker, he prefers to be behind the scenes baking rather than chatting to customers.

"My wife is much better at this than me," he concedes. The bakery was small and to increase the size the couple closed the shop to concentrate on the wholesale side of the business.

Even with this extra workspace, the couple found the premises restrictive.

Now, with the larger bakery, they feel they have space to allow the business to grow further. Staffing the bakery has always been an issue for Thierry.

French and English bakery techniques are very different and Thierry initially opted for French staff.

When this proved unsuccessful he took on his first English baker.

"She was great, she picked it up straight away."

Since then, he has employed English bakers although he believes English baking techniques have been greatly hindered in recent years by mechanisation.

"Because there is less variety in English bread it was much easier to mechanise and this has led to a loss of knowledge for young bakers."

Thierry believes that this combined with an increased use of pre-mixes and shortcuts by some English bakers have meant that they fail to offer the variety customers are looking for.

Although Thierry prefers to concentrate on the wholesale bakery business he has found farmers' markets an invaluable tool in gauging changing tastes and trying out new ideas.

"You have direct contact with customers. If something doesn't sell, you know there and then."

The markets also offer immediate cashflow for the business.

"The farmers' markets have been very important for us.

"Before we discovered the markets, Anifa and I were absolutely desperate to buy decent good quality food.

"There seemed so little on offer. When we found the farmers' markets we realised that good food was being produced it was just difficult to know where to go.

"The markets have made such a huge difference. Now we buy fantastic veg and wonderful meat."

In line with the farmers' markets ethos, Thierry now only uses local free range eggs in his products.

For more information on La Parisienne telephone 01684 292422.