F&D Heroes Issue 1

What inspired you to launch The Big Bakes?
It all started back in 2016, when we organised an
office bake off with our team at work. We loved the
creativity, fun and competition it led to, and it sparked
an idea for us to create an experience like no other.
We began to search for a baking-based night out
for our team. After a few days of hunting, we quickly
realised there was nothing out there that was light
hearted, fun and accessible and we realised there
was a gap in the market.
After a relentless period of recipe research, marquee
meetings, property searching, bank meetings,
professional baker interviews and so much more… we
decided to buy a marquee and it was all go from there!
How are you operating in these new times?
It has certainly been a more challenging year, but
our philosophy is to only focus on the things you can
control. For us, that has meant treating our staff and
customers the best we can, ensuring our venues
are the perfect place to socialise, and that every
customer has the best experience we can offer. Since
we have re-opened we have been full to the rafters.
Our venue’s layout is naturally socially distant, with
12 baking stations all 2 meters apart. We have also
hosted several remote bakes for corporate customers
where we send all the ingredients through the post,
and stream live from our venues. People want to
socialise, but they also want to do that responsibly.
That is why our venues have been so popular.
What have been your favourite personal triumphs
along your business journey?
We really believe the future of entertainment is
immersive. Customers demand so much out of
events today, and the whole experience needs to feel
crafted from start to finish. We also get to tap into
peoples creativity, whilst creating the perfect social
environment. The journey to where we are today has
been hugely exciting and there have certainly a few
moments along they way that have stood out.
In out first month of opening in 2017, a junior writer
from the Evening Standard attending our event but
didn’t promise any specific coverage. When we
opened the paper, we found a double page spread
showing off London’s latest and, in her view, ‘best’
event. We couldn’t believe it.
Our bookings suddenly took off, and we quickly
received further press from the likes of Buzzfeed and
the Metro. Since then we’ve had our press reach over
50 million people.
Fast forward a few years and we have hosted
everyone from Roman Kemp, Davina McCall
and LadBaby. In 2019, Eloise also received the
Everywoman Artemis Award for the most inspiring
woman running a start-up in the UK, which was a real
moment for celebration.
You were recently named Small Business
Entrepreneurs of the Year for London and East of
England at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards.
What did that mean to you?
It was third times a charm for us. We have been
finalists the last three years running, and to win
during the most challenging year hospitality has
ever faced was really fantastic. It is always great to
have the recognition and reassurance that despite
everything that is going on, you are doing great work.
We will be celebrating properly once we can get all
our team together safely.
What does the future hold? Have you got any more
plans for expansion?
Well, perhaps unsurprisingly….cake is involved. But
yes, we have some fairly ambitious plans for the next
three years. Some obvious and others less so. We
will certainly be expanding to more cities in 2021.
We always get such a wonderful reception, and each
week we receive a fair amount of fan mail asking us
to come to their city of choice. We want to make 2021
the year that 2020 wasn’t, so keep an eye on us for
some pretty exciting developments in the year ahead!
thebiglondonbake.com
@TheBig_Bakes
@thebig_bakes
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