Over the past 84 years, Carrs Pasties' delightfully soft pastry and delicious fillings have won the heart of many a Boltonian.
The family-run bakery initially started as a tripe shop on Halliwell Road prior to the Second World War but began attracting queues of mill workers when freshly-baked whist pies, meat pies and pasties started to be sold.
Then, in 1960, the owners' children John, Bernard, David and Veronica all quit their burgeoning careers to form a limited company and scale up production.
READ MORE: Carrs vs Ye Olde Pasty Shoppe - Bolton has its say on the battle of the pastries
Bolton Council gave the company a loan in 1975, which continued to help it grow and in 2013, it was passed down to John's children Matt, Joe and Liam.
Under their ownership, Carrs has since opened two further premises - a flagship store on Manchester Road and one at Market Place Shopping Centre.
After cracking their hometown, they now have their sights set on opening a shop in Manchester.
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News at their Manchester Road bakery, Matt Carr recalled the moment that he found out they were taking over the family legacy.
He said: "I was working in technology down in London and doing really well but I got a call from my dad saying 'If you want it, it's time.'
"I handed my notice in straight away and it's the best decision I've ever made.
"Liam and Joe have always worked here. I feel like I know how to run businesses but Liam and Joe know how to run this one and I like to think we've done well for ourselves.
"Now we're actively looking for premises in the city centre.
"Most people in Manchester still haven't heard of us but then in places like Salford they have.
"A lot of Nisa convenience stores and places like that have hot towers and we've gone in, put a freezer in, stuck a convection oven in and taught them how to bake our pasties so they can be proud of what they serve to their customers.
"We're trying to grow the family as well. We're looking for independent businesses that share our values - fill everything with pride, work as a family, do the right thing.
"Most companies find it very difficult to write down their values but we didn't because we already know what our priorities are. We work in a certain way and look after each other."
To help them expand, Carrs acquired the former G4S building behind their bakery and submitted a planning application to turn it into a 'production and distribution facility'.
Joe Carr said: "At the moment we can only make 100,000 pasties per week and we're building this so we can expand to 400,000 per week because we want to be selling that many.
"It's really exciting at the minute. We're in the middle of loads of projects.
"We want to get to a point where everywhere you see a Costa Coffee machine you’ll see a Carrs stall, so in petrol stations and retail shops. You’ll see us up and down the country."
Earlier this year, Carrs launched their chicken, ham and leek pasty to go alongside their meat and potato, steak, cheese and onion, and cheese and jalapeno varieties.
Joe also said that the installation of a blast freezer has been a game-changer for the distribution side of their business and allows them to send frozen pasties to any part of the country, ready for baking.
"We can pipe the hot filling into the pasties and then put them straight into the blast freeze to lock in the flavour," he added.
"It's the only way to lock in the flavour so that we can distribute them safely."
READ MORE: 'I tried a £21 kebab at an award-winning restaurant - and it was worth every penny'
For more food, drink and what's on news, click here
