Natalie Griggs, 27, is the bakery buyer at Fortnum & Mason. She lives in Essex with her husband Ciaran, an investment banker

Growing up, I was a real bookworm, so it’s fairly surprising that I’ve ended up working in the food industry. However, my degree in anthropology at the London School of Economics was really intense, so after graduating I wanted to work somewhere fun while I saved to go travelling. I got a role at chocolatiers Godiva – as ‘chocolate strawberry dipper’ – and loved it. That led to me landing a job at Fortnum & Mason in 2007 and I’ve never looked back

I get up at about 6am after hitting snooze on my 5.30am alarm. My clothes get covered in chocolate at work, so I wear machine-wash pieces from Gap with jewellery I’ve collected on my travels, such as my turquoise necklace from a Navajo Indian reservation. I have Bran Flakes for breakfast and then my husband Ciaran and I walk to the station – that’s my exercise for the day before my 90-minute commute to our offices above the store on Piccadilly.

Our in-store bakery makes traditional English products like scones, from scratch, daily, but we use external suppliers for cupcakes, brownies and decorative biscuits. My mornings are spent checking sales figures, stock levels and wastage – we have lots of fresh products so I monitor this very closely. We’re not allowed to take anything out of the store, even if it’s damaged – which disappoints my friends as when I started here they all hoped for free cake. I have lunch at 12.30pm – usually leftovers from home from the night before or a sandwich from our canteen – and eat it with my friend Louise in Green Park.

Natalie Griggs: Bakery Buyer