Name: Lucy Butler

Business name: Pippo’s Bakery

Opening hours: Contact Pippo’s Bakery on Facebook or at pipposbakery@gmail.com

When did you open your business and why?

We OPENED in 2016 and it was just by chance really. We made a cake for a family member as they were entering a work-based Hallowe’en competition. It just built from there really – we realised we had a product that people might want because it turned out a lot better than we thought it would.

We had only really done a bit of home baking before that, but nothing too serious.

Why in this location?

We RUN this from home in Oswestry, but we have our five-star food hygiene rating with the council.

I think having a business in Oswestry, with there being a slightly small community here and there being a few businesses which offer things slightly similar in terms of cakes and goods like that, it took us a while to grow.

People come to us now more than we previously would have had, as we used to have to seek out customers at the start.

We have a real strong base of returning customers which is good.

Under the current circumstances with lockdown still in place, we offer delivery for small fee up to an hour away.

Tell us about your business

We OFFER bespoke cupcakes, wedding cakes and celebration cakes.

We also offer cake pops as well, which for people who haven’t seen them before, are basically little cakes on a stick.

We do a lot of custom cupcakes, so people will come to us and tell us what they want and for what occasion, and sometimes may give us a design. Then we take that and bake whatever it is they want.

The best way I can describe what we do is that it is ‘bespoke’.

People tend to come to us for specific occasions – cake-baking isn’t seasonal, but it is an occasion-orientated business.

People don’t tend to pay for specific cakes everyday, so it is very much occasion orientated.

A lot of what we do is for weddings, baby showers, birthdays and other events.

It’s a real privilege to provide something for an occasion which is very special to someone.

We try to add little touches and make it as personal as we can.

As well as having a great cake, we pride ourselves on offering great customer service which is tailored to the customer.

People do tend to come back to us for cakes because they may want to offer them as gifts.

What is your proudest moment?

Something we’re very proud of is that people keep coming back to us.

We have done events like Liverpool Food Festival, so for a small business we have done some big events, which has been good for exposure – but for us, it’s important to see people coming back because it means we’re providing a good service and a good product.

We also have a lot of five star reviews on Facebook which is nice.

Any strange requests?

None that stand out too much.