My Story - Home Bake Shop
An Idea Worth Doing Something About
It all started one sunny afternoon in April 2020. I was mixing up another cake for my blog while simultaneously texting my neighbours: “Another lockdown cake up for grabs, guys! Bring your own vessels, please; I’ve run out of paper plates and Tupperware”, the message read. A few hours later the cake would be gone, gratefully received by my neighbours who, like all of us, were looking forward to a chat at the door and some homemade treats to chase the lockdown worries away.
A few days later they would happily return to collect yet another cake or a few biscuits. “I could do this for a living” I jokingly said to my friend when placing a bag of fresh peanut butter biscuits on her doormat and stepping back two meters. She smiled and replied “Now, that’s an idea worth doing something about.”
Several recipe tests and countless bakes later I could not stop thinking about my friend’s encouraging response. Due to the pandemic, I had no choice but to cancel all of my baking classes. Just when Rise and Shine started to properly take off with new exciting “baking for wellbeing” projects in the pipeline Covid-19 struck. Like so many other self-employed people I had to press “pause” and adapt to the new reality.
Before and After
And adapt I did! In early December 2020 I launched an online bake shop and started baking hundreds of fresh biscuits a week. My amazing husband helped with deliveries; zooming in a car around North West London and chasing off traffic wardens in between drop-offs became his new reality. Little did he know! It was hard work but delivering a box of freshly baked deliciousness to eagerly awaiting customers mostly working from home was very rewarding.
In April 2021 I met Simon, the man behind the Coffee Shot, who has been selling my biscuits along with his delicious Brazilian coffee ever since. In 2022 I added a postal delivery to my offer and Rise and Shine biscuits travelled on the wings of Royal Mail all over the UK.
The pandemic is over. My baking classes are growing and I am busy again working both with charities and private clients. My small home bake shop has changed as a result and I no longer cater to individual orders, I am now solely a wholesale business. Postal strikes and the cost of living crisis have not helped but I still supply local businesses and knowing that so many people out there have my biscuit with their cuppa puts a smile on face. A flour-covered face that is.