Bakehouse on the rise

Cara Cummings meets The Apprentice winner from Herne Hill - and hears how fate, family and a devastating fire shaped her success...

Photos by Hakob Muradyan

I was sat here last year and saw his car go past. I tried to run out because I thought: I’ve got to stop him. Since then, I felt like something was going to happen with Lord Sugar. Now I talk to him daily. It’s so weird, isn’t it?”

Carina Lepore is telling the story of her first encounter with Alan Sugar outside Herne Hill’s Dough Artisan Bakehouse - or rather, an almost-encounter. Back then, she was a down to earth striver at the helm of her family’s small bakery business. Flash forward a year, and she’s both the newly crowned winner of The Apprentice and the most successful candidate in its history, having won more tasks on the show than any other contestant, ever. Gone are her days of chasing the AMS 1 number plate up Milkwood Road. Now, Carina’s got Lord Sugar - her new business partner - on speed dial, and a £250,000 investment from the man himself.

Not that hitting the big time has changed the affable entrepreneur from Thornton Heath, who spends a large part of our interview describing how “surreal”, “amazing” and “crazy” her newfound fame feels. “People are coming in and they’re starstruck at me making coffee!” she laughs. “Some ask for selfies, which I don’t mind at all but it’s weird because it’s just me. I’m just Carina.

“We’ve had people come in from Manchester and a lady even flew over from Ireland. I was like, ‘For me?!’ Everyone’s sort of on the same vibe when they come in - I’m overwhelmed, they’re overwhelmed... It’s a joyous feeling.”

The atmosphere at Dough Bakehouse HQ is still buzzing following Carina’s triumph in arguably the toughest competition in television. In person, she’s as warm and friendly as onscreen - and clearly blown away by her success.

“The Apprentice wasn’t the plan, as such,” she admits. “I feel like it’s destiny. My mum’s still got the text I sent to the family after I applied: ‘Could have Lord Sugar’s new business partner on your hands guys!’ I sent it as a joke, and now it’s happened. It’s so surreal.

“I applied off the back of the feeling I had that this was something. It was the toughest thing I’ve ever done in my life - but I knew it was going to be worth it for me. From the start, I had that feeling.” Trusting her gut may have served Carina well, but it was hard work and laser focus that saw the self-described “pocket rocket” leave her competitors for dust on the hit BBC show.

“If you believe in yourself, put yourself out there and work hard, then why shouldn’t you succeed?” she asks, with trademark straightforwardness. “I gave my all with every task. I wasn’t swanning about or pretending to take notes. It was very serious for me. If you want a jolly and whatever other people might have wanted, fine; but that wasn’t what I wanted.”

Surely the pressure must have been intimidating at times? “It’s what I’ve always tried to embed in my sister: don’t feel like you ‘can’t’, ever,” Carina continues. “If you want to do something, think: this is what I want to do, so I will do it. Don’t hold back.”

At just 31, the humble hustler has the life experience to back up that ethos. Growing up, she watched her beloved dad Carlo build his bakery business into a much-loved local hotspot - only to be gutted by a fire in 2016.

“I remember it like it was yesterday,” she says. “I got the call of devastation from Dad saying ‘I’ve

got nothing left’. It was totally gone. He was depressed; I’ve never known him like that. Dad always drilled it into me to push myself - I’ve definitely inherited his drive - so it was a sad time. “I thought: what can we do here? How can we fix this, for Dad?”

Carina stepped in to pick up the pieces, along with her sister Rachelle. “They lean on me - I’m the shoulders,” she says of her role in the close-knit clan. “I’ll always try and help. So we rebuilt, from scratch. I said I’d sort the business side of things so Dad could refind his passion.” And rediscover it he has - with extra verve since his daughter’s TV success. “Dad’s loving it,” Carina laughs. “He came in last night saying, ‘I’ve got to do extra cakes!’ His cherry and almond slice featured on This Morning and is selling out every time, so he’s making double the amount.”

Take that as reassurance, Dough Bakehouse fans: Carina might have nabbed what she needs to expand the business, but Herne Hill will still be its beating heart. “We’ll keep baking on-site here,” she insists. “This will be the HQ, so I don’t want to change it.”

And whilst new shops are on the cards, Carina won’t be leaving south London any time soon. “It’s a big part of me,” she says of the area. “I used to come and play in Herne Hill with my best friend from school and I’ve always been visiting Brockwell Park, the County Show, Brixton. It’s a massive part of my life. I think it holds a bit of a rustic charm, a bit like Aladdin’s Cave - a diamond in the rough. We’re down to earth, we get on with it and we’re humble. We’re not stuck up. We’re real. “What more can I say, other than I love south London?”