Two Leeds mums quit day jobs as baking business hobby sees sales increase by 400 per cent during lockdown

Before Covid-19 hit the UK, Bloom Bakers’ main revenue stream was selling B2B branded biscuits for corporate events, launches and to celebrate milestones. When the first lockdown was imposed, and all those events were cancelled, Lisa Shepherd and Saskia Roskam expected the worst.

But, operating as a home bakery, they decided to send out free 'kindness biscuits' with encouraging messages such as “Stay Safe” and “Thinking of you”. It was their way of keeping people connected and spreading kindness one biscuit at a time during the challenging first lockdown.

But as people stayed home, they turned online and huge volumes of business to consumer orders started to come in and sales increased by over 400 per cent. Their clients which include the likes of Nestlé, BUPA, and the BBC, were now looking for individually packaged biscuits, and the option to send out biscuits directly to employees’ homes. The duo were also able to launch new products such as their “Happy Lockdown Birthday” box.

Not wanting to put their families or anybody else at risk, the baking duo fulfilled all orders themselves.

Saskia said: “I honestly don’t know how we did it. We still had our part-time jobs in marketing, two kids each at home that needed to be home-schooled, and the business was booming. Needless to say, we didn’t sleep much."

During the summer, B2B orders slowly picked up again and in September, Saskia was the first to go full-time into the business. They subsequently had the busiest Christmas season to date, with sales of their award winning Eleedsen-lebkuchen seeing a 800 per cent rise compared to the previous season.

After Christmas they realised that Bloom Bakers had thrived during the pandemic and profits had quintupled in the past year. And so on the day the third lockdown was announced, Lisa quit her secure job in marketing to fully focus on making Bloom Bakers and even bigger success in 2021.

The Leeds based business has grown organically and never received outside funding. In was set up back in 2016 with only £1000 over three months from both the founders, who at the time were both mothers to very young children.

Lisa added: "We are seeing new businesses spring up like mushrooms, but they are hardly ever run by mothers. We hope our story will inspire other mums who have lost their jobs, or had to give it up due to the everyday juggle that is now so real for many of us.”

Support the YEP and become a subscriber today. Enjoy unlimited access to local news and the latest on Leeds United, With a digital subscription, you see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Click here to subscribe