Bake Away Plymouth

The Bake Away story 

Hi I’m Amanda, and I’m looking for your help to raise £5000 to make my dream of setting up a street food business with a social heartbeat a reality. When it comes to food I’m a firm believer that there’s a healing quality to good food in good company.

Full tummy, happy heart is the thinking behind this new business venture!

The concept for Bake Away is simple. We'll sell delicious desserts and use our profits to bring together people living in social isolation to enjoy pudding club sessions once a quarter, making great food and good company accessible for those that need it most. 

So who am I? 

I’ve been baking for years and have been dreaming of setting up my own food business bringing delicious food to people for a long time, and now feels like the right time to take the leap and make Bake Away a reality. I currently bake in my spare time for fun and am a volunteer baker for the National Trust, where you’ll find me at Cotehele Mill once a month baking and chatting to visitors. 

I’m a self-taught baker, and was lucky enough to grow up in a family where every night included a hot meal around the table where we shared our day and enjoyed delicious home made meals, but I know that not everyone is that lucky. That’s why I’d like your help to start Bake Away, using the power of food to not only put a smile on people’s faces, but also to do some good and reach out to spread some warmth to people who may need it.

There’s nothing I love more than feeding people great food, and I hope with your help that I’ll be able to start turning that passion into a business.

What is Bake Away? 

Bake Away is a new street food concept, bringing delicious desserts to festivals and food markets across Devon and Cornwall. 

Customise your dessert with scrummy scoops of cake and cheesecake in a scrumptious waffle cone ready for you to tuck into and enjoy.

As well as dessert cones Bake Away will offer cakesicles, the cake pops bigger and better sister, and celebration cakes to order giving an array of sweet treats for people to enjoy. All handmade and baked by me in Plymouth!

We plan to launch with a limited initial menu consisting of three different cheesecake fillings (vanilla chocolate chip, raspberry and lemon curd swirl and chocolate fudge brownie), 2 sauces (strawberry and salted caramel), 3 biscuit crumbs (Digestive, Oreo and Pink wafer) and a menu of 4 different cakesicle flavours and styles (Vanilla, chocolate, lemon and carrot cake).

Bake Away will also provide dessert bars for hire at events and weddings, and provide pre-order services for cakes, desserts and cakesicles. 

I hope in the future to be able to offer mail order cakesicles too.

What makes it different?

Street Food is just part of the offer, with Bake Away I will also offer something that will benefit the local community.

Once a quarter I’ll be looking to work with a community group or charity to offer roaming pudding clubs at venues that suit the groups and sessions to bring together members of the local community who may be lonely, dealing with difficult situations or in need of some good food with good company. I plan for the first pudding club to take place in April 2020, in partnership with charity and social groups in Plymouth. 

This could be anyone from older people living in isolation, those struggling with mental health and in need of a space to talk, mums who are in need of some respite or people who are struggling.

In Devon and Cornwall loneliness and social isolation is estimated to impact around 20% of those aged 65 and over with a further 8-10% experiencing intense loneliness[1] which equates to around 38,000 older people experiencing mild loneliness in Devon and a further 15,000 to 19,000 experiencing intense loneliness. Research has shown that social isolation impacts on our appetite and consequently our health. Sharing a meal with lonely people can be life changing and this is something that I hope Bake Away can address, tackling loneliness and encouraging healthy and sociable eating habits.

Each pudding club attendee will go home with the recipe card to create the food that they ate at the club session at home should they wish to.

As an extension to these sessions should we reach our funding target we will introduce a ‘From the kitchen table’ podcast to talk about the healing powers of sharing a meal together, discussing issues that impact our lives and sharing recipes and tips to further widen the reach of the ‘mindful meals’ concept. This platform will also capture the stories that accompany people’s favourite foods and how being together and sharing a meal can have a positive impact on not just us but those around us too.

Where will you find Bake Away? 

Once up and running you’ll find our Bake Away stall trading at food markets, festivals and fairs across the South West. Focussed around Plymouth, South Devon and North Cornwall.

Particularly we plan and hope to attend: 

- Plymouth Market 

- University of Plymouth student market 

- Mount Edgcumbe Street food festival 

- Royal William Yard Good Food market 

- Tavistock street food festival 

What am I Crowdfunding for? 

I will use this funding to help me set up Bake Away and cover the start up costs to get this food business up and running to start bringing delicious desserts to a festival or market near you! Additionally it will go towards necessary business costs like insurances, equipment and food safety accreditations.

Key equipment and costs we need to purchase and cover include a mobile catering fridge for trading at events, purchase of crockery and equipment for pudding clubs and a Bake Away Bike for trading at markets and fairs. 

Example bike: 

Thank you for visiting my project page, and I hope to meet you soon for some dessert! 

[1] Source: devonhealthandwellbeing.org.uk/jsna