2022 Update

We are fast approaching Black Cat Bake's 2nd Birthday! In that time things have changed quite substantially.

Things started out as a little dabbling with sourdough, as many did during lockdown, baking loaves for friends and family in the kitchen. Soon baking in the kitchen became impractical; baking one loaf at a time was quite an ordeal!

This necessitated investing in a small microbakery space to enable the business to grow. And grow it did! Black Cat Sourdough found fabulous local stockists, and a wonderful group of regular customers, some of whom have supported Black Cat Bakes since the very beginning (thank you!).

However, again that space was outgrown, leading to major investment in a new purpose-built space in July 2022, giving the potential to take on staff and continue the Black Cat journey.

Since starting out in August 2020, the financial landscape for independent businesses has changed substantially, and all of us are facing a huge cost of living crisis.

Costs have been spiralling for many months now, and up until this point, I have absorbed them all myself but we are now at the point where I cannot continue to do so. The first major change I saw was to the cost of packaging (as well as supply chain issues in obtaining it!), with most of what I use increasing by around 50%. For example, the boxes I used for pizza dough and buns increased from 27p each to 52p. The simple solution was to reduce the amount of packaging I use, which I'm sure many of you noticed. This was a slight regret for me, as it felt like the delivered product looked less professional. However, as the quality of the product itself was not reduced, this seemed like the best solution.

Now, these costs are being reflected in the ingredients I use. My flours have increased by anywhere between 20 and 50% over the past 6 months. Butter has increased by 39%. Chocolate chips by 40%. But the scariest change for me is the price of energy bills and fuel costs for deliveries. It now costs double what it did in 2021 for me to bake each loaf, and unfortunately this is only going to go upwards. Peeking at the smart meter on a baking day is enough to bring on palpitations at the moment.

I have kept prices the same since I opened, but sadly this is now something I can no longer put off. The options are limited ....reduce the size of loaves, use inferior/non-organic ingredients - neither of these I wish to do. Therefore, I have raised the price of my loaves (still cheaper/on par with other artisans for the same sized loaf). I think many independent producers will be facing this quandary. By increasing the price, I am not covering all of these increased costs, but it will make it much more viable for Black Cat Bakes to continue.

As always, thank you all for your support.

Ayala x