Brownie baking lockdown hobby turns into a full time business for The Savvy Baker

Savannah Roqaa, known as The Savvy Baker, 24, set up her baking business from her small apartment kitchen in Roundhay as something fun to do during the first lockdown.

Within a few months, she has gone from selling 30 boxes a week to selling 1000 in just 90 min at her first pop up, amassing 25k followers on Instagram, six full-time staff working around the clock to keep up with demand and celebrity clients such as Leeds and England player Kalvin Phillips.

Ms Roqaa, formerly a makeup artist developed her love of baking while looking after young children in her most recent role as a nanny.

She said: "I've never been a baker, but I'm naturally creative and it was a fun and educational thing to do while looking after the children. When lockdown started in March 2020, I started making brownies and dropping off care packages to my friends to cheer them up. They shared images of the cakes on social media, and before I knew it, I had people direct messaging me for brownies and cakes and overnight I set-up The Savvy Baker."

"Initially I worked from home, but right from the off I was baking 30 - 40 boxes of brownies a week so quickly outgrew my kitchen. I have lots of friends in the nightlife industry, so they kindly let me use their premises to bake from."

The Savvy Baker offers a range of cakes, cookies and brownies from £10 to £35 with the biggest seller by far being the OG – Mars Brookie.

Due to the power of Instagram, within six months, the business had grown from strength to strength with over 25k followers. The Savvy Baker now posts out over 500 boxes a week, has moved to commercial premises and employs up to 6 staff, ranging from assistant bakers, packers and drivers.

Most of the staff she employs are friends from the hospitality industry who have lost their jobs due to COVID, and Savannah was keen to help and give back where she could.

Going forward The Savvy Baker says she has seen how an online business model can be more cost-effective than retail and has no plans to open a shop any time soon. She hopes to continue growing the online side of the business and with the help of Social Media grow the brand nationally if not globally.

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