Meet the Dockers: Vlad Bernic

B.Bakery already has a loyal following in Canary Wharf, but for those who are discovering you for the first time, what's the story behind the business and the people who started it?

B.Bakery actually started from something completely different. My wife and I originally had a dance school in Ukraine, and I was working as a professional dancer. But I always felt that I wanted to build something of my own and be more involved in business and creating things.

We had the opportunity to run a small summer café, and because it was seasonal, my wife suggested that we should try something different alongside the dance school — a café focused on croissants and pastries.

The funny thing is that we knew absolutely nothing about croissants, baking, coffee or even pizza! We started completely from zero. We found a small location in a town in Ukraine and actually built the whole place ourselves. We took courses, learned how to make coffee, learned how to make croissants and basically taught ourselves everything we needed to know.

That first B.Bakery opened in Ukraine in 2020, and from there the business started to grow.

My wife and I work very well as a team. She is incredibly creative, while I’m more of the person who turns ideas into reality and makes things happen. I think one of the most important things behind our journey is that we trust each other completely. We’re not afraid to try something new, and we have a huge amount of love and belief in each other. Whatever we decide to take on, we give it everything we have.

Ahead of your opening at Royal Victoria, why did the Royal Docks feel like the right place for B.Bakery's next chapter?

We believe that the people we meet and the opportunities that come into our lives happen for a reason. When we started looking for our second London location, we went back to the same people who had helped us find our first location.

One of the women we had met remembered us and had been following B.Bakery on Instagram. When I contacted her again, she was genuinely happy to hear from me and said, “Of course I’ll help you — you created such a beautiful project with your first location.” She then introduced me to the Royal Docks team.

We were shown several different options. Originally, we were thinking about opening a small food truck at Royal Docks, but one of the options was the kiosk at Royal Victoria outside City Hall.

The first time we saw it, we weren’t completely sure. But we came back, looked at the location again and started to see the potential. We realised that this could be something really special for B.Bakery in the future.

So, in a way, I feel that God brought us to Royal Docks and connected us with the right people at the right time. The Royal Docks team, the leasing and asset management team at TfL and Places for London have been incredibly supportive throughout the whole process and has helped us with so many different things.

We’re very grateful — both to everyone at the Royal Docks Team and at City Hall who has supported us, and to God for bringing us here.

Having founded B Bakery with your friend Max and worked alongside your wife as part of the team, what’s something you’ve learned about each of them through the experience?

To be honest, I wouldn’t say I discovered something completely new about either of them, because I have known my wife and Max very well for a long time. But working together in London has given me an even stronger appreciation of their individual strengths.

Max joined our team when we moved to London because of the war in Ukraine. He is one of the very few people I would trust with absolutely anything. He is incredibly honest, responsible and reliable, and he has proven that through his work. I know that when I give Max a responsibility, he will take it seriously and will never let us down.

My wife has always been a very special person to me, but through B.Bakery in London I’ve had the chance to see even more of her creative talent. She has really developed her role as our creative and artistic director, particularly through social media. Our Canary Wharf location has become very connected with Instagram and our online community, and we have built an audience that follows us and comes to our events.

So, I would say that London has allowed my wife to express even more of her creativity, while Max has confirmed to me what I already knew — that he is an incredibly serious, trustworthy and responsible person in business.

Before opening B Bakery, you had a career as a professional dancer. How did you end up swapping the stage for the bakery?

Dancing gave me a very strong foundation for everything I do today. It gave me discipline, a competitive mindset and the determination to keep pushing myself.

Discipline is something I believe will always be a huge part of who I am, especially in business.

Dancing also played a very important role in my personal life because that’s actually where I met my wife.

But I believe that everything has a beginning and an end. Dancing gave me everything it could, and at a certain point I felt that it was time for me to make a completely different move and challenge myself in a new direction.

I don’t regret that decision for a second. Today, I’m fully focused on business and on continuing to develop B.Bakery. I will always be grateful to dancing — it’s still in my blood and in my soul — but I no longer have the same professional ambition for it. The discipline and mindset it gave me, however, will stay with me forever.

B.Bakery began in Ukraine and your first London site opened in Canary Wharf. What inspired you to bring the business to London, and how does it feel to be opening a second location in Royal Victoria?

We actually didn’t plan to move to London at all. Life in Ukraine was going very well for us, and we had a business, a home and a life that we were happy with. But when the war started, we had to make the decision very quickly to leave. At the time, my wife was nine months pregnant with our second child, so we came to London hoping that the move would only be temporary.

When we arrived, we had to start almost completely from scratch. We didn’t initially plan to open another business because we thought we would eventually return to Ukraine. Max and I first worked as labourers on building sites, and later we moved into the restaurant industry and worked as waiters. We did that for around two and a half years.

But every day I went to work, I felt that something was missing. I wanted to create and build something of my own and feel that I was moving forward. I felt like I had reached a ceiling and was stuck in a routine where I couldn’t really express myself or develop my ideas. For me, that sense of purpose and fulfilment was very important.

When we finally decided to bring B.Bakery back to life in London, we knew we had to be clever about the costs. London is an amazing city, but it is also very expensive, so we decided that a food truck would be the best way to start.

And it turned out to be exactly the right decision. Our food truck became everything in one place — our bakery, our pizza kitchen, our production space and our shop. We could produce and sell from the same location, keep our costs under control and gradually build up the business.

Opening in Royal Victoria feels completely different. It feels like a very happy new chapter for us. We have reached a point where we are building a proper business again, and the support we have received from City Hall and the Royal Docks Team has been incredibly special to us.

We are extremely grateful to everyone who has supported us and genuinely wanted to help us make this project happen. After everything we have been through since leaving Ukraine, having people here who believe in our business and want to see us succeed means a huge amount to us.

So for us, Royal Docks is much more than just another location. It feels like another important step in the B.Bakery story.

Your pastries are known for their beautiful presentation, vibrant colours and incredible attention to detail. What inspires a new creation?

A lot of the creative inspiration behind our pastries comes from my wife. She is responsible for the ideas, the decoration and the overall visual concept of our products. We completely trust her creative vision, and she has an incredible eye for detail.

My role, together with Max, is more focused on the quality of the products, the recipes and technology behind them, the equipment and making sure that the production process works consistently and efficiently.

When it comes to the actual appearance and decoration of our croissants and pastries, that really comes from my wife’s inner creative world. She is extremely strong in this area, not only creatively but also from a marketing perspective. I can say that objectively because we can see the results in our social media engagement, views and the feedback we receive from our customers.

So, in a way, our pastries are a combination of two sides: creativity and emotion from my wife, and quality, technology and consistency from Max and me. I think that combination is a big part of what makes B.Bakery special.

Not many bakeries offer giant croissants for birthdays and celebrations. Where did the idea for the XXL croissant come from?

The idea actually came from my wife. We had a very special celebration in our lives — our third gender reveal, as we have three children — and my wife suggested that we make an XXL croissant especially for the occasion.

It was actually the first XXL croissant we had ever made, and it was something completely personal and made just for us. We never expected that this one celebration would inspire us to start making XXL croissants for other people as well.

Interestingly, the video my wife made from our gender reveal went on to receive more than 50 million views. It made us much more popular with the Ukrainian audience and helped introduce B.Bakery to many more people, not only in Ukraine.

So something that started as a personal idea for one very special moment in our family eventually became one of the things people know B.Bakery for.

Your social media is funny, playful and doesn’t take itself too seriously. How important is humour to the B Bakery brand?

Humour is a very important part of B.Bakery. People don’t come to us only for croissants, pastries, food or drinks — they also come for the atmosphere, the emotions and the feeling they get when they are with us. We always try to create that kind of environment.

A great example was our Independence Day celebration in Ukraine on 24 August. We organised an event with live music and honestly, we couldn’t believe how many people came. More than 500 people turned up, even though the space could realistically fit around 100. People were standing close together, but everyone was happy and enjoying themselves. It’s a day I will never forget.

That’s why I think humour, energy and a good atmosphere are so important to our business. In many ways, they are just as important as the food itself. People can see that we are genuine, and I think they come to B.Bakery not only for what we make, but also for the emotions and memories they experience with us.

What’s the one thing you’d love people in the Royal Docks to try when they visit B Bakery for the first time?

I would definitely say our croissant. It’s probably our strongest and most recognisable product. We’ve had French visitors who actually came from France try our croissants, and they told us they were genuinely incredible. That kind of feedback means a lot to us, especially when it comes from people who have grown up with French pastries.

But I also want people to know that everything we serve is made by us. Our macarons, French éclairs, French brownies, desserts, our Napoleon cake — every single product is made by our own team and under our own brand. We don’t simply buy finished products and put them on the counter.

So, of course, come and try the croissant first — but then stay and explore everything else we make. And at Royal Victoria, we’ll also have savoury options and pizza, so there will be something for everyone, whether you’re coming for a coffee and pastry or looking for a proper lunch.

Try B.Bakery for yourself

B.Bakery will be opening at Royal Victoria in the coming weeks. To be among the first to hear opening news and other updates from across the Royal Docks, sign up to our newsletter. You can also follow @bbakery.uk on Instagram for the latest updates and behind-the-scenes glimpses as the team prepares to open its doors.