Trading Up

[prev] …middle-man so we keep it simple.’ Inadvertently educating the public is also a part of their business, Sarah claims. ‘Adults as well as children that came by our stall tended to think bug boxes were actually for trapping bugs so one could shake them out and stomp on them! We’d tell them that wasn’t the purpose and go on to explain the benefits of housing insects. The same goes for the frog, bat and hedgehog boxes we sell.’

Keeping it simple also seems to be a lifestyle choice for Sarah. The former special needs educator explains: ‘We make and grow things, and that’s what we do full time now. We have gardens, keep two beehives and have rescue animals in a smallholding, including a snake, newts in our pond, a pony who is now eight years old and two pet pigs that will never become sausages. It’s a very satisfying and honourable way to make a living really.’

“Markets are a huge part of our business – we go to where the people are”
Robert Whellams, Belvoir Bakery

Like some others, Robert Whellams, the proprietor of Belvoir Bakery, also makes his ‘dough’ working the market circuit as a career trader. ‘I’ve got Bakewell market in Derbyshire on Monday, Spalding on Tuesday, others throughout the week, and then Stamford on Friday. Markets are a huge part of our business – we go to where the people are.’ Robert points out that his baked goods are not sold from any shops. One issue that market vendors have is that shop overheads are much higher, yet shops have a much smaller catchment area. By travelling through Lincolnshire, his business is able to extend its reach and capture far more sales. He believes his baking venture generally serves about 400- 500 people in Stamford. ‘Stamford residents are real foodies. Often people will come to me and say things like, “We’re having fish, or we’re having pasta with this sauce or that sauce, what bread will go well with that?” In summer “al fresco” weather it’s barbecues, so I recommend the speciality loaves with sundried tomatoes or olives. Otherwise our cornbread is hugely popular. Although we don’t market it as gluten-free it is brilliant for people that suffer from coeliac disease or are wheat intolerant. Customers love it, and we sell 100 cornbread loaves in Stamford alone. Our sourdough is also popular as is our harvest grain, and we sell 200 traditional loaves easily. Our unique selling point is all our bread is baked the night before so it’s always fresh. The mixing is done around 4pm and the baking starts around midnight and we are off by 6am. I’ve been really fortunate as I’ve got loyal customers who really like the freshness and enjoy the taste of our breads.’

Fresh, locally-sourced food is a big draw for customer

It’s seems it’s not just human foodies who care about taste and quality ingredients. Joan Edwards and Oberon Praties of Paws Doggie Bags, the makers of a variety of home-baked pic ‘n’ mix dog biscuits, maintain that not only are their human customers happy, their canine consumers are more than content too. ‘Before we started, Oberon and I were both involved in businesses we weren’t enjoying running, and were looking for an original idea, something we could sell. We actually spent some time at a spa together to try to come up with something, but we ended up just drawing a blank. It wasn’t until a few days later when I visited her, and her dog was jumping around being a nuisance, that we both looked at each other and at the exact same moment said “dog biscuits!”’

As their idea evolved, both Joan and Oberon began test baking and developing recipes. Both ultimately decided that instead of hiring a larger company that couldn’t really give them what they wanted, they would organize the baking themselves and have casual bakers (albeit ones… [cont]