Whether it’s special Easter eggs blending Venezuelan chocolate with pistachio tiramisu or developing AI training tech opening up access for neuro divergent and bilingual staff, Signorelli is showing what good things can be achieved with the right business focus. Over 12 years the artisan bakery and café group in east London has become a pastries powerhouse serving Italian coffee, handmade baked goods and seasonal food alongside an expanding catering and events offering.

Rebecca Rosmini, a consultant, is its chief executive and head baker is husband Alberto, a former agronomist. “His cooking was so good we had to share it,” is how she explains the reasons for their first start up. Together with 45 staff spanning 10 nationalities they now operate from a main bakehouse in Stratford and five cafes producing their own cookies and croissants. Rooted in community and strengthened by consumers’ growing appetite for quality food, “everything is produced from scratch from the focaccia sandwiches to the cakes with the focus on local sourcing, cutting food miles, and consistency. It’s a warm, neighbourhood-led approach and we have full control over quality, ingredients and taste. Customers love green because of its natural connotations and that makes pistachios hugely attractive,” Rebecca explains. As work patterns change coffee is just a popular as food now with demand rising for iced and caffeine-free drinks. Signorelli’s chose its coffee blend exclusively so it works with London’s hard water.

Always with a second life in mind, the business is 95 per cent food waste free with yesterday’s croissants becoming a new pudding and surplus bread croutons or breadcrumbs. Moving to refillable milk kegs saves tonnes of plastic.

With turnover forecast for £3.5million in 2026/27 much of that will be driven by Signorelli’s jewel in the crown – its tech advances with a digital-first approach to training that’s having a lasting impact on people’s lives by enabling them to earn a living. Some 15 to 20 per cent of UK adults are neuro diverse and it was Rebecca’s local authority work that opened her eyes to their needs and their relevance to commerce.

Now with a £20,000 grant from the government-backed Made Smarter programme, delivered locally by growth agency London & Partners, plus strong landlord relationships that idea has become a viable reality. Over the past 18 months the business has built a digital backbone integrating stock control, rotas, sales and customer interaction. The company’s in-house bot allows teams to access all procedures and policies using a WhatsApp channel Bot Lui. Customers place orders with Bot Flo and operations can handle 25 languages.

“What before took six months to put together is now fast and smooth. With tight margins having control of data is essential,” observes Rebecca. “AI adoption makes our training more accessible and inclusive. It’s not about replacing people but enhancing development. We’re open to new co-operations and maintaining quality at scale.”