NEW PREMISES IS ICING ON THE CAKE

A specialty cake-making company from Wolverhampton is hoping for a rise in business after taking on its first commercial unit to cope with a demand for its tasty bakes.

Babbaloos Bakery, launched by friends Shelley Birch and Deborah Cox in 2015, is moving from Deborah’s home kitchen in Lanesfield, Wolverhampton, to a small unit at The Pensnett Estate, Kingswinford, after agreeing a three-year lease with LCP, which owns and manages the industrial estate.

Shelley, aged 32, who began baking with 34-year-old Deborah when they were both children, said they were thrilled to realise their dream of opening a cake business – three years after they started out making bespoke cake-toppers.

“We are bakers and best friends so to be doing it for a living is a dream come true,” said Shelley.

“It’s happened quicker than we’d imagined. We made just cake toppers but customers wanted the whole package and once we started to make bespoke novelty cakes, demand grew.

“It was in our five-year business plan to grow into a commercial premises but after just a year of trading, it was obvious that we would have to move now to continue to cope with demand. We’re excited to have our own unit and aim to grow the business over the next year or so.”

Paula James, industrial lettings manager at LCP, said: “The Pensnett Estate offers a huge range of premises for occupiers – from small start-up office spaces and industrial units of just 500 sq ft to large buildings of 20,000 sq ft and more. We are delighted to welcome our first bakery to the estate and we are looking forward to working with Shelley and Deborah, ensuring their new business premises are right for their needs.”

Babbaloos Bakery is already booked to attend 11 major food festivals this year and the pair are also hoping to book a further ten during 2017. It has been commissioned to make a cake for Cosford Museum and in March the pair are also entering for the first time Cake International, the renowned sugarcraft and baking show.

The Pensnett Estate is one of the largest secure business estates in Europe, and home to almost 200 businesses in over 2.4 million sq.ft of commercial property. Tenants include Sven Christiansen, Intralox, Midsteel Group, Glendenning Plastics, Bookers Cash & Carry and Dudley NHS.