Let them eat (the last piece of) cake
- pollyshepherd11
- Jun 2
- 4 min read
So, our one month anniversary has passed, and both Polly and I knew it was coming and then forgot to celebrate it. It turns out that setting up a new business takes up so much head space that many niceties have dropped by the wayside for now, although now that both of us have finished our other jobs, we hope to get back to being human again soon.
People keep asking me if I am excited about our adventure, and if I am enjoying it. It's... hard to say. In theory I am pleased about the whole thing, but in practice, we have had so much to do that there has not been a lot of time to actively pause and enjoy things. The previous owners seemed sad when I told them this - their beloved business falling into the hands of ungrateful oiks? - but actually we have been mostly just tired and running as fast as we can to catch up with all of the one-off set-up learning we are doing. We have been battling really boring tedious things like learning how to get our business noticed by Google, waiting for HMRC to send us the right code so that we can register everything correctly, learning how to use the new till system, working out where to keep all the keys so we don't lose them, and wondering why our website still won't accept payments even though we have, as far as we know, done everything right. I like problem-solving, but a lot of this, particularly the computer things, feels a bit modern-life-is-rubbish. Five years ago I built a website and had payments coming in easy-peasy within about twenty minutes, but now they seem to want your first born child as collateral and even then they treat you like you might be secretly money-laundering by trying to sell flea market stallholder tickets... we're not. We're too tired.
When I think about the last month, it has mostly been a bit of a blur, but there there have been moments of real satisfaction. Let's see, what have I been pleased about so far?
The coffee. It really is good, and we have had lots and lots of nice comments. My milk-steaming skills are improving and I almost managed a heart on top of someone's coffee the other day. It's only a matter of time before whole fleets of foamy swans are sailing their way across our lattes, I'm sure.
Selling books that I only just put out on a table. I have had fun dipping into our stock and finding books that I think are interesting, or fun, or beautiful, and carefully putting them out for people to find. Turns out it really does work as a sales tactic. Oh, you thought that book looked interesting? Me too!
Seeing people coming back for another visit or meeting each other here - already we are finding that people are bumping into people they know here, which really is the dream scenario for me. We wanted this place to be a hub, and seeing people greeting each other, or get chatting to strangers because they are all sitting round a large table together, has been really gratifying. More of this please!
Seeing how much money we have taken at the end of the day. Turns out this doesn't get old. Look, some actual money came our way because of things we did. Amazing. Astounding.
Making cakes that people have enjoyed. This one is important to me. I love food. I love to cook, and I spend a lot of time thinking about food, plotting, planning and trying stuff out. There is something wonderful and calming about turning up to work, putting an apron on, measuring out some ingredients and producing something to sell. To have a whole customer base to experiment on/sell to is interesting and immediate and fun. The feedback loop is quick - we make it, they eat it, they tell us if they liked it. No homework, no notes, no sleepless nights, no digital, AI-tainted boxes to tick.
And we have learnt a lot about what kind of cake people want to buy when they are out and about. They have studiously ignored any plain brown cakes sitting on the counter, including an utterly delicious courgette loaf with lovely caramelly dark brown sugar notes that is just fantastic with coffee, because of modest appearances, going instead for cakes dressed in their Sunday best with icing, something gooey or fruit to catch the eye. One poor carrot cake (delicious, moist), sat feeling very unloved until we stuck a cream cheese icing on it, at which point it sailed out in very short order. It has been fun thinking about and trying recipes on people - the cherry almond slices have gone well, the flapjack with cranberries, lemon shortbread, peach and raspberry crumble slices, Alice's magnificent coffee cake, Polly's sticky ginger cake - all big hits. I have endless recipes I want to try out, lime and chilli cake, scones, Love yums chocolate cake, orange and date... the list goes on.
We know, however, that no matter how wonderful the cake, how dripping in icing, or bedecked by fruit, the last piece will never sell. It is made of the exact same stuff as the first piece, and the third piece, but something about a lone piece of cake standing under a glass dome all on its own shrieks 'do not buy'. Which is a shame, because it is usually very tasty. I should know, as staff usually end up eating it. Nice though it is for us to try the cake out, for the sake of our profit margins and waistlines, please, next time you see a last piece of cake on our counter, ignore the evidence of its missing friends and take a chance on it. You won't regret it, and you'll make me very happy.
Rachel
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