ARE you fed up with your dull 9-5 office job and want to do something more exciting? Well if so, fear not, as you’ve come to the right place.

With the cost-of-living crisis continuing to cause havoc for many families up and down the country, more and more people are turning to side hustles to earn a living.

And this is often the case for those wanting to pursue their passions, as was 41-year-old Candice Bannister. 

We spoke to Candice, the founder of Candy’s Cupcakes, to find out all about how her sweet treat business started.

What began with just £300 from her kitchen counter, Candice now makes just under one million pounds each year and ships her cakes around the country. 

Candice, the mum-of-two, from Dukinfield, Tameside, told Fabulous: “I worked in supported housing for 11 hours, supporting homeless people. I absolutely loved that job but I was always very creative and making cakes was something that I was always really interested in.

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“In 2010 I had my first child so I was on maternity leave and that’s when I started hobby baking.

“Then organically, people came to me and asked to pay me for cakes, which is when the hobby gradually started to turn into a business.

“In February 2011, my husband said I should make a go of it. He gave me £300 so I could buy some items in bulk.

“I had gone back to work part-time at that point, but with the £300 I went out and bought cake boxes, ingredients and thought, if I buy from proper suppliers, I can look at making a mark up, so that’s when I started treating it as more of a business.

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“Then with the help of Facebook, I started running competitions, to try to grow my followers and then that kind of boomed and spiralled. 

“It started in my home kitchen and before I knew it, it was going really well.

“I knew absolutely nothing about how to run a business at the start. It was a massive learning curve. I did a lot of reading and watched YouTube videos. It was all self-taught. 

“In the beginning, people didn’t really appreciate how many hours I spent on the business, people thought it was literally just baking a few cakes. But my family and husband were really supportive.”

Candice, who is mother to Theo, 13 and Poppy, 10, explained that her husband, Oliver Bannister, 41, created her a website and with the support of a local bakery, things started to take off.

She noted: “Alongside me doing that, my husband re-trained in the web industry and created me a website. He was able to help me manage my social media platforms so the two of us working well together really worked.

“Then with the support of a local bakery owner, I was passed down her wedding orders while she was on maternity leave and for me, that was the deal breaker. I gave up my job in 2014, as things were going really well.

“I was working with some big companies and some celebrities too.”

It started in my home kitchen and before I knew it, it was going really well.

Candice explained that she has made cakes for celebrities including Niall Horan, Paddy McGuinness and Molly-Mae Hague. 

She added: “We’ve made cakes for Paddy McGuinness. Earlier this year he turned up to your unit wanting a cake for his daughter.

“I did a cake for The Voice, for Will.I.Am and then for Tom Jones.

“In lockdown, we made Molly-Mae’s cake and Tommy Fury’s 21st birthday cake.”

Candice explained that she decided to go full time with the cake business in 2014 and by 2019, was shipping her cakes around the UK. However, she noted that when she handed in her notice, her boss was left stunned. 

She continued: “It was really hard juggling my job alongside the business.

“I would constantly be getting messages and would spend my lunch break replying to people. 

“I realised I needed to hand my notice in and when I told my boss that I was going to do the cake business full time, she spat her brew out. 

“She said ‘how are you going to afford to live?’. I was really taken aback. It was her reaction that spurred me to want to show the doubters that I could do well.

“I wanted to be able to sell my cakes more than just to local customers. I had a really big local customer following, but I wanted to be able to ship my cakes nationwide.

“It took about two years of trial and error to get it right. It was always my ambition to grow the business. 

“In 2019, my husband then improved the website and made it an ecommerce site so people could order through the website. I was doing all of this from my home kitchen.

“Then I moved to my mum’s garages. They were really nice garages and it was a much bigger workspace, so at the end of 2019, I became a Limited company and I employed my first person.”

Candice explained that while many businesses were hit hard by the Corovnais pandemic, Candy’s Cupcakes thrived.

She claimed: “In 2020, Covid hit, so I was panicking. Luckily, I worked alongside the Growth Hub, an organisation in Manchester and they were really supportive and they helped me look at how to grow the business.

“Then the penny dropped – I didn’t have a shop so I didn’t need to close, so we stayed open, and honestly, it was the making of the company. 

Now, we’re shipping thousands of cakes every week, up and down the company.

“I know it was a really bad time for many, but people were sat at home and they still wanted to send birthday treats and get well gifts, they still wanted to have that connection with people in lockdown. 

“We had a product called ‘A Cake In a Box’ and it is four really nice slices of cake which go through your letterbox. It was perfect in lockdown. 

“We sold so many. It blew up over night.

“By the end of 2020, I had seven employees. I employed random people that were out of work. 

“I employed my hairdresser, a guy who lost his job with Virgin Airlines. Anyone could be trained up to make our products if they understood the basics.”

Now, Candy’s Cupcakes has moved into a large kitchen and they ship out thousands of orders every week. The company also now has nine employees, and are currently recruiting for an admin role.

Candice explained: “In 2021 I started outgrowing where I was working from so I signed a lease for the place we are currently at. It’s a much bigger premises, a bigger unit.

“Now, we’re shipping thousands of cakes every week, up and down the company.

“We work with some huge companies, last month we sent thousands to Goldman Sachs. We work with some really big computer game companies, Supermassive Games and Creative Assembly to name but a few.

“We supply our local Jaguar Land Rover every week. We’ve been supplying them for a year.

“Now we’re doing TikTok live shops, just to get some connection with our customers. It’s been a great way for us to grow as a brand. 

“We’re really proud of what we’ve achieved.

On average we make £63,000 a month. Last year we made £688,000.

“My husband came on board 18 months ago and works for us full-time now. 

“It started off at £300 and now we’re turning just over £1 million a year.

“We have about 1,500 orders a month, but that isn’t just a box of six, that could be 200 cupcakes.

“On average we make £63,000 a month.

“Last year we made £688,000.

“So far this year, in just six months, we have made £417,000.”

Candice explained that she works long hours and in the early days, even set fire to her kitchen because of the stress of juggling motherhood with the business.

She shared: “I still work long, long hours. It’s a bit easier now that the children are older, but I did set fire to my kitchen in the early days. I had a newborn child, a toddler running around and then had to get the fire brigade out, that was a nightmare.”

Reflecting on her journey, Candice concluded: “My biggest challenge with the business has been relying on couriers. 

“People expect their cakes to arrive on a specific day, 99% of them get their fine but it’s the 1% of upset customers when their orders are delayed, that’s been a big challenge for me. 

“Juggling the business and being a mum was also a challenge. I try to make sure I balance my time with them and then the business.”

For those looking to start their own business, the savvy entrepreneur advised: “You need to be adaptable. Trust the process. 

“Make sure you understand numbers, get an accountant to ensure that you turn over a profit.

“Don’t give up. Be motivated and dedicated and go with your vision. 

“Don’t dwell on problems or take things to heart. Look past mistakes and learn from them. 

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