Have your cake…

Edible treats have been agrowing sector,and are perfect for thanking staff and customers during recent tough times

Chorley-based EatMyLogostarted as aside-line project to ahigh streetcelebration cakebusiness owned by Ruth andAndrew Poar, called CakesbyRuthbackin2014. The initial aim wastosupply branded cupcakes to business in thelocal area alongside thebirthdayand wedding cakes that the business produced.

It soon became apparent that thebusiness had found agap in themarketand the side-linegrewquickly and required bigger premises whichled to acouple of moves. It nowemploys 18 people andishousedin a10,000 squarefoot bakery,toserve high levels of demand

The Eat My Logo team nowproduces awiderange of logobranded cakes and biscuits, with millions of unitsbeingsold each year

Likenearlyall promotionalbusinesses, thepandemic put aseverekinkinthe growth curve of theBriman member, says Andy Poar.“As ourproduct rangeis typically purchased forbusiness events and celebrations, ourorder book dried up almost overnight. It wasa scarymoment,but we had no choice but to adapt to what had happened andattackthe market,”hesays. Therewerestill opportunities out there and thecompanyquicklyrealisedthatit could adapt itsproducts to appeal to the postal delivery market.

As aresult,ithelpedthousands of businessesconnect withtheirstaff and customers,withthe help of tastytreats senttotheir home addresses. Eat My Logo developedpostableproducts such as oatbites,donuts andcupcakes,letterbox brownies, andbiscuit brew boxes.

The quieter pandemic period also allowed it to focusoncreatinganew platform to help distributors generate revenue. It developeda TradePortal, whichoffers distributor partners resourcesincluding product information,artwork templates, pricing, and marketing

Poar says he has noticedthatbusinesses arethinking moreabout howtokeep their staffhappy sincethe pandemic.

“Whenthe businessbegan, buyers were mostly giving outproducts to people at eventsand conferences. Nowadays with employeeengagement topping thelistof priorities formanybusinesses, around 60%of our orders areused by businesses to give to their ownpeople,”hesays.

“Whether this is forbrand anniversaries team rewards, celebrations or ‘justbecause’, it is fantastictosee,becauseitshows that small gestures can meana lot,” he adds.

Despite theproblemscreated by the pandemic, thebusiness wasabletopivot successfully to suchanextentthatboth2021 and2022wererecord years, andit is on target formoregrowthin2023.

Eat My Logo has invested in new machinerytomakeproductionasefficient as possible, including depositors, ovens,and flow wrapping machines.

Productdevelopment has alsobeena major focus withdozens of new products to keep therange fresh andexciting. New releases include funkycupcakes, logo chocolates,canvascakes and more.

FoundersRuthand Andy have also been empoweringtheir team to runthe business daytoday,putting in place amanagement team that they hopewill enable them to step back from theday to dayrunningofthe business within thenextfew years.

Forthe future, Eat My Logo aims to provideanevenmorepersonaland proactive servicefor eachand every distributor as well as making operations moreefficient.

“Wefeelthat this is reallykey,and the distributorswho work withusinthisway reallydosee thebenefit in termsofenquiries andrevenue,” says Poar

As distributors getfamiliarwithhow edible products areused, end users can expect to see manymoreoptions coming their wayin theyears ahead,headds.

“Sowatch this space fornew product launches throughout theyear.”