The Small Business Sessions
The Small Business Sessions is a weekly podcast from the Powering Local Businesses programme, created by Enterprise Nation and EDF Small Business in collaboration with Square.
This series explores the practical steps small businesses can take to grow and thrive – from improving energy efficiency and embracing sustainability to creating a lasting impact in their local communities.
The Powering Local Businesses hub supports small businesses, wherever they're based and however they sell, to grow sustainably. Access grants, pop-up shop opportunities, energy-saving guidance, expert workshops and a supportive community.
Find out more at enterprisenation.com/poweringlocalbusinesses
The Small Business Sessions
The Dusty Knuckle's Max Tobias on baking bread and changing lives
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Welcome to Small Business Sessions, brought to you by Enterprise Nation as part of Powering Local Businesses, our collaboration with EDF Small Business and Square.
In this series, we're speaking to founders and entrepreneurs about the real stories behind starting, growing and rebuilding small businesses.
Expect honest conversations, practical lessons and first-hand insight from people who have built businesses with purpose.
In this episode, we're joined by Max Tobias, co-founder of The Dusty Knuckle, one of London's best-known bakery businesses.
Max shares how his experience working with young people in the youth justice system led to the idea for a bakery that could create real opportunities for people facing barriers to employment.
He talks about starting small, growing from a shipping container and building a business whose product has to stand on its own while the social impact sits at the heart of the company.
Topics discussed in the episode:
- How Max's background in youth intervention and youth justice shaped the idea for his business
- Using a local restaurant's pizza oven early in the morning to test the product and build demand
- How The Dusty Knuckle's youth employment programme supports young people coming from custody, care, insecure housing and other difficult circumstances
- Training the wider team to support young people without making the programme feel separate from the business
- What it's like running a bakery business in 2026, including rising costs, early starts and the pressure on hospitality
- Why Max wants the business to become a London community asset people genuinely care about
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Powering Local Businesses
We're helping small businesses thrive on the high street – through expert support, smart energy advice and practical tools to grow sustainably.
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