A Gateshead-based cake business set up by a mum and daughter team has won big at an awards ceremony in London.
Cake Stories, started in 2015 by Hannah Evans and her mum Liz, won North East Business Entrepreneur of the Year at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards after growing the wholesale side of their business by 260% in the last year.
The business began as a single shop in Jesmond but has now grown to incorporate a shop in Byker and a separate bakery in Gateshead that all work in conjunction with an online shop service. Hannah now runs the business with her husband Ben, although her parents Liz and Jon are still active.
The company has grown so much that the bakery in Gateshead contains their offices and a dedicated manufacturing facility which offers UK-wide distribution to places that stock their products, as well as sending out the online orders.
Hannah said: "We're over the moon to win this award and are so grateful to receive recognition on behalf of the whole team for all the incredibly hard work that goes into Cake Stories every day. Running a small family businesses is hard work and it's great that there's an award that celebrates and encourages people in this sector."
"The awards ceremony itself was so much fun; there was a lovely atmosphere with people cheering each other on and supporting one another. The win has opened us up to being part of a great community and we'd happily enter again in the future, as the business continues to grow in stature and scale.
"Since opening the coffee and cake shops, we have begun supplying other local coffee shops and now supply our products to over 200 other coffee shops and restaurants across the country. In the past year, the wholesale side of the business has grown by 260%, leading us to take on three new full-time bakers and double the size of our bakehouse kitchen.
"We’re even being stocked in selected John Lewis stores, which we hope to expand on in the coming year, along with partnering with the expanding coffee shop franchise 222 Coffee."
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