A Nottinghamshire tearoom has celebrated its first year in business, but warns customers there might not be a second. Pig & Pudding, in Cotgrave, celebrated its anniversary on Tuesday, June 20.
Owner of the business, Laura Stannard took over the site last April and reopened in June as her tearoom after wanting to make somewhere nice for the local community to enjoy and meet friends. She described the experience as being "a bit of a whirlwind, but it's been amazing."
Laura posted a photo on Facebook to celebrate the milestone, but also warned customers that like many other businesses, Pig & Pudding is struggling to stay afloat with the "crippling" cost of living crisis. She added: “I dislike the term use or lose us but unfortunately it’s the reality for us and many other small businesses.”
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Talking about the post, Laura explained it was the "harsh" reality. The business has loads of local and regular customers, with many people in the village using it as a meeting place, but the rise in food costs and energy bills is having an impact.
Laura said: "There was help before for business with gas and electric, but that's all finished now. Minimum wage has gone up as it rightly should but that's another cost as a business owner, and the cost of food goes up daily.
"Things like sugar, we pay double now to what we were paying at the start of the year. Then we've got that pressure of trying to keep our prices competitive and good for our customers without compromising on quality."
She explained that their main goal for the year is "to try and keep going." Adding: "I think nobody wants to fail and it is very important for us but also the community and staff.
"It's important to keep those jobs for people and I think that's one of the biggest pressures." Laura explained that the tearoom is very much a family effort, and her mum bakes most of the cakes.
Speaking about the Facebook post, Laura stated: "It's made a massive difference, which is amazing. Yesterday it was crazy busy which is great.
"It shows what a strong community it is." In addition to the tearoom, Laura also hires out the venue for events and runs a popular fortnightly art class for children on a Friday.
She added: "We ran some wreath making workshops over Christmas and spring on an afternoon and they were really popular. We do have a group of mums that meet on a Tuesday as well, and a lot of feedback suggested a mums group would be nice so I might look into that on a Monday morning."
