Reinventing Hospitality: Anna & Alessio’s Madre Margate Story

Anna and Alessio, once called ByVolume’s, a drink and hospitality branding studio located in at Hawley Square studios, have now evolved into Madre, a bakery, wine shop and café rooted in sourdough, Italian flavours and quiet confidence. The same values apply: clarity, character and care.

Introduce us to Madre, who are you, what do you do?
Madre is a bakery, wine shop and café. We focus on sourdough breads and Italian-inspired deli sandwiches. Alongside baked goods and treats, we showcase artisan Italian wines from small independent winemakers who are driven by taste and terroir. They are all sourced by our dear friends at Passione Vino in London.
Finally, we offer a small selection of pantry fillers from kindred makers and gift items for the kitchen, the house or the self.

How did Madre begin?
I used to bake breads and roman-style pizzas in our domestic oven just for family and friends. I started using baker’s yeast but having worked in the brewing industry for a while (although not in production), I have always been fascinated by fermentation and I soon realised I was missing something in the process, and more importantly in quality and taste. At about that time – in 2019, a dear friend gifted me a sourdough bread baking class and it was love at first sight. After that, I kept experimenting from home, finding comfort, calm and healing in baking. It truly helped finding myself again in motherhood.

However, it wasn’t until 2022 that I stepped things up, bought a commercial oven, installed it at home and started taking pre-orders and selling at markets. And a year later the opportunity to take over a unit at the Post Office building came up. 
I somehow managed to convince Leo to join me, and Madre as you know it today began!

How has your experience as ByVolume helped and informed how you’ve approached Madre
Interestingly it has helped in two ways. Our experience in building story-driven brands with a clear identity has of course informed the way we’ve approached Madre. 
And it also gave us the confidence to be unapologetic about our – often unusual and radical – choices; closed weekends / no laminated pastries / only really good filter coffee, to name a few.

We in fact believe that businesses need to have a voice and a point of view. It builds trust, people will know what you stand for and what they’re buying into.
But having supported other hospitality businesses in their journeys has also given us the incredible opportunity to see what happens behind the scenes. Throughout the years, we have unconsciously absorbed knowledge about aspects that were not necessarily part of our project’s scope. We didn’t realise it until we started to work on our own hospitality project.

What does a typical day look like for you?
An important thing to note is that our openings and schedule revolve around childcare! We have two daughters, and since the start we decided to try to make Madre work around our family. After all, Madre’s inception is rooted in my motherhood journey and it all started from the idea of nurturing and nourishing, so it made sense to set our boundaries and play by our rules. 

We are open weekdays, closed weekends, we open after school drop off and close in time for pick up.
Early in the morning I start baking bread for the day and mixing the dough for the next day. Leo joins in after taking the girls to school and nursery, and then we open our doors. 

The first couple of hours are quiet, we keep prepping, serving customers and we can have some wholesome chats with our regulars. 
Lunchtime can be busy; we are not a place for people who are in a rush: our sandwiches are made to order to offer the best and freshest experience and to avoid waste. 
By 3pm the dough is shaped and ready for the next day’s bake, the shop is closed and one of us has already left to do pick-ups.

What’s the thing that’s surprised you most about Madre – how you envisaged it vs the reality?

I have never worked in a bakery, and we now run one! Genuinely, this is what still surprises me most.
Although it’s a small operation and our offering is quite different from other bakeries, we had to go through steps and decisions that I have never approached or seen before: from designing the kitchen layout, to choosing equipment, scaling up recipes and creating a baking schedule.

Whats the thing you enjoy most here?
Madre’s regulars! 
The familiar faces, those who don’t even need to say their order, those who come for a chat, those who trust our menu even if they don’t understand most of the words on it, those who keep coming and help us shape our space. They make our day!

You’ve got a delicious selection what are some of the most popular items (and personal favourites).
Our dark chocolate sourdough is the first bread I sold from home, so it holds a special place and our customers love it. But pane terrone, our free-form soft sourdough, is the most appreciated bread and it’s also the one we use for our sandwiches which are indeed the most popular item. Personal favourite is our granola: toasty, crunchy, sweetened with maple syrup, with the special addition of our sourdough starter for depth of flavour.

You’ve got a great space here, do you host supper clubs, or could someone rent the space for supper clubs or such?
Yes, we have hosted supper clubs, although not as much as we’d like. The good news is that we are working on new exciting collaborations for 2026.

And we will keep hosting exhibitions in our space. Another important side of Madre is our dining room where we host art shows. They change every 6-8 weeks, we introduce each show with an opening night where we offer a curated selection of wines by the glass and free bread nibbles.

Follow Madre on Instagram here –
Mon-Fri 9.30am-3pm / Sandwiches from 11am / Closed weekends

Follow Hawley Square Studios on Instagram here – Photography Vika Kozi