Jonathon Clark is now one of Dundee’s most successful businessmen, with 130 staff and an annual turnover of close to £9 million.

However, when the Clark’s Bakery boss was 16, he was expelled from the High School of Dundee.

The expulsion, just before he was due to sit his Highers, could have derailed his seemingly privileged life.

However, he revealed, it acted as a turning point and ignited an entrepreneurial spark.

Jonathon, 45, spoke to The Courier about his unconventional journey to the top.

Pride at bakery’s incredible success

The father-of-two opened up about rewriting the traditional bakery rulebook and the inspiration behind some of Clark’s Bakery’s best-selling items.

He also revealed exciting new expansion plans for the third-generation family business, which now employs 130 staff – and admitted he “couldn’t bake a cake to save himself”.

“I’m proud of everything Clark’s Bakery has achieved over the years and confident the business will continue to grow,” Jonathon said.

“We provide something unique – high-quality, freshly baked goods filled with locally sourced meats that we butcher ourselves. And our customers keep coming back.”

Clark’s Bakery was founded in 1950 by Jonathan’s grandfather Ernest Earle Clark, who opened a modest shop on Dundee’s Annfield Road – where the firm’s 24-hour bakery remains to this day.

Jonathon’s father, Alan Clark, a trained master baker, joined in 1960 and was a driving force in transforming the business into a much-loved local brand.

Alan, who remains hands on with the running of the bakery aged 78, successfully steered the business through economic recession and voluntary liquidation in the 1980s and opened new shops across the city.

No stranger to grafting, when his teenage son came to him to tell him he had been expelled from the respected school, he wasn’t fazed.

He urged Jonathon to pull his socks up and find another way to make a success of his life.

Fireworks prank cost him school career

Jonathon said: “My dad has always been a huge support and inspiration to me.

“When I got expelled for putting fireworks in a bin at school he could have had a real go at me, but he didn’t.

“He encouraged me, gave me a chance but also let me learn from my mistakes and I’m so grateful for that.”

He continued: “School wasn’t really for me. I enjoyed parts of it but was more interested in having a laugh with my mates than learning.

“I got in trouble a lot for doing daft stuff and messing about.

“Looking back, I can see why they expelled me, but I didn’t ever hurt anyone.

“I could have done nothing with my life at that point, I hadn’t done my Highers and I could have just sat about.

“But I remember thinking that I didn’t want to get left behind. I knew I had to work hard to make something of my life.

“I’ve since learned that the kids who follow the script at school tend to go into careers like medicine or law but the ones that look out of the window and don’t conform often start their own businesses.

“You need to be able to think outside the box and most of the business owners I know didn’t do well at school in a traditional sense.”

Showing early entrepreneurial spirit, Jonathon – despite no longer being a pupil – organised a High School of Dundee S6 leavers’ party.

He sourced a venue in rural Perthshire, organised buses, a marquee and a DJ and sold tickets.

He also enrolled in a business course at Dundee College – but lasted a month.

Taking reigns in Charleston was turning point

Until then, he had only been helping out at the family business, washing trays and building pie shelves.

But his dad offered him the chance to take over the running of Clark’s struggling Charleston shop and he showed immediate promise.

Jonathon recalls: “He gave a failing shop to have a go and it’s still here to this day.

“I pushed every aspect of it and was determined to make it work.

“Both my parents have always been so hard working, and I mirrored that. People might think I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth but it wasn’t like that.”

Jonathon also started a small car valeting business, which was a success, but his attempts to get into gardening and oven cleaning didn’t work out.

In 2001, while on a snowboarding holiday in the United States, Jonathon was inspired following a trip to fast food giant Subway – which was yet to open in Scotland.

On his return, he suggested to his dad that they bring the making of their filled rolls to the front of the shop where customers could see and offered more choice.

24-hour Scooby Snacks

He also suggested they listen to the student population, who made a drink-fuelled pilgrimage to the 24-hour bakery.

Jonathon said: “I wanted it to become more fun and we started offering crazy filled rolls and trying new ideas.

“Scooby Snacks and Helicopter Burgers became big sellers, and we started making t-shirts with slogans on to grow the brand.”

He added: “People love it when we try new concepts. Our kebab pies now sell more than our steak pies.”

In 2010, Jonathon officially took over Clark’s Bakery and continued to try new ideas and embrace innovation.

By 2015, the business had nine locations and Jonathon introduced an online ordering system.

Two years later, determined to ensure the provenance of the meat the bakery used, he opened his own butchers with school friend David Webster, The Butcher The Baker.

Jonathon explained: “I like to keep innovating and opening our own butchers felt like a smart thing to do.

“We were buying in so much meat and wanted what we offered to be the best quality and traceable.

“Unlike some other big-name bakeries, all our products, from the black pudding and burgers to the rolls and donuts, are fresh and handmade on site.”

Why Clark’s rolled back on bakery drive-thru

Following in the footsteps of other fast-food outlets, Clark’s forged ahead with plans to open its first drive-thru bakery on the Kingsway.

However, Dundee City Council refused the plans, citing concerns about car use and taking footfall away from the city centre.

Jonathon initially fought back but had a change of heart on a family holiday in the Cairngorms with wife Chloe, 37, and children Poppy and Archie.

He revealed: “The build price had rocketed but I realised life wasn’t about making more and more money – it was about family.

“I remember looking at my kids cycling around Loch Morlich and thinking, ‘what am I doing, they won’t be small forever and I can’t spend all my time working’.

“It was at that moment I decided not to do the drive-thru and it’s a decision I am glad I made. My dad later told me he was against it but wanted me to realise that myself.

“Filling a roll properly in 58 seconds just wouldn’t have worked and you can’t have a backlog of cars.

“If it had failed, the whole business could have failed and jobs would have been put at risk.”

Clark’s Bakery boss on new locations

Jonathon revealed he is about to embark on a refit and refurbishment project to bring each of the nine Clark’s shops in Dundee and Arbroath up to the same high standard.

Then, he hopes to open his first ever shops in Broughty Ferry and St Andrews.

He added: “In this ever changing, challenging business environment, we are determined to find ways to make the business efficient without making our products smaller or of a lesser quality.

“For me, the founding principles of being traditional, local and handmade, contributing to local economy and keeping our 130 staff happy is key to our success.

“For a guy who can’t bake to save himself, I think I’ve done not bad.”