Bakeware is ‘flying off the shelves’

“The humble cake has become a hero of our times,” according to ‘The Mail on Sunday’. “We’re baking them, buying them, selling them, reading and watching TV programmes about them.”

In a six-page special report that appeared in ‘The Mail On Sunday’s’ ‘You’ magazine on March 31, the newspaper suggested that our national pastime of home baking has become an economic lifeline.

The newspaper interviewed five women who are reaping economic rewards from Brits’ appetites for baked goods, by running thriving businesses: a cake and biscuit-making concern, a chain of cake shops, a cupcake market stall, a cakes made-to-order service, and a vintage-style tea room.

“Start-up cake-making businesses have doubled in a year, bakeware is flying off the shelves and our consumption of cupcakes is unstoppable,” the report said.

It claimed that “these days no kitchen is complete without an icing smoother, savarin ring mould and cupcake corer,” and highlighted particular sales successes in this sector enjoyed by multiple retailers Lakeland, John Lewis, Marks & Spencer and Dunelm Mill.

The ‘Mail on Sunday’ also noted that in 2012, independent cookshops reported a 66% growth in sales of bakeware and cake craft, according to bira (British Independent Retailers Association).

‘The personal touch is where independent shops are doing well. People are buying some items for the first time and want to be able to ask the shop staff exactly how to use them,’ explained retail consultant Bill Brown.

Read more about Bill’s views in the story in the ‘No flash in the (cake) pan’ story below.