Back in 2019 when I worked at EventCity, this was what I was quoted by an account manager from one of our suppliers trying to impress me with their ability to support our business. ‘It’s the small businesses that shout the loudest.”

At the time I was a Food and Beverage Operations Manager for a large events company where we would do retail operations for up to 20,000 people a day, gala dinners for 2,500 and so much more. It was a blank canvas venue from outlet setups for our cafe, street food stands and bars, to bespoke dinner menus and we were a small team with big clients, so as an operation it was extremely challenging. 

I’ve purposely put a picture of us both as the headline photo for this post, because despite our extensive menu, offers and ambitious business goals, it has literally been just the two of us for the last 12 months. Sadly, we can’t pay ourselves let alone bring in a team, so as a small business, we are it.

The company I’m discussing (I won’t be naming in this blog) had changed their business support model to ensure that its ‘high value’ client businesses would get their full attention and support and I was told that gone were the days of “£300 a week businesses taking up their time, and would only get an account manager when they were financially viable enough.”

I’m ashamed to say that this quote went right over my head at the time. I had the attention of this company, who I was putting hundreds of thousands of pounds of business their way each year, and was so impressed with their customer service and adapting to the challenges and they were ready at a moment’s notice to address any problems, match pricing and ensure we were supported.

Now I’ve launched my own business, the reality is that £300 now is the same value as £3000 to EventCity for us. And worse, it impacts me and my partner both personally as well as professionally, unlike when I was raising Purchase Orders at EventCity. It’s easier when you are spending someone else’s money, and that business has the foundations in place to manage comfortably in difficult times, move money about and have the funds for creative accounting. Don’t get me wrong, business is never easy whether you head up a small cafe or a big corporation. I understand that fully well. The only real difference is the ‘scale up’. For example, people ask me how difficult it is to run a dinner for 2500 people and I will say it’s the same as running a dinner for 100, as from an operational standpoint, you just scale up (with a little more stress for the people who tie all the threads together). However, it’s more likely the underdog, the small business, that will be the one who won’t be sleeping at night.

So, I have partnered with the company since starting up, and it’s only now that my circumstances have changed does that old quote come to light, and made me realise I made a mistake partnering with this business. Now the reason I’m not going to name this company is not because they are a despicable company, far from it. I was motivated by my previous experience with them and the service I received when I was at EventCity, which is why I wanted to work with them, but they are just too big of a supplier and now I’m a number, not a client, and therefore, not important. And for that, I am angry. Not angry with the company again, business is business, KPIs are KPIs and there are so many benefits to utilising this company. Their pricing is great, their minimum spend is reasonable and although I no longer get the ‘extra mile’ customer service, the customer service hasn’t been bad. This is not a blog to out a ‘corporate titan’ that should be held accountable for its poor ethics, but a blog to highlight the anger at myself for not using our start up as a way of positioning to support smaller businesses. A mistake I will not be making again, and a principle I refuse to forget when we grow.

Now here’s the problem. I want to correct this mistake, but at this point it’s easier said than done. I’ve reached out to smaller businesses in hopes to move the business, and the people I speak to are so grateful, will do anything to make it happen. In particular Birchall Foodservice. They were fantastic, caring and wanted to move the earth to make us a part of their businesses. 

Unfortunately, the logistics to change the menu around new suppliers, allergens, calories, pricing, and like-for-like products, is a mammoth task at this point for myself. And I would absolutely do that to support smaller businesses if I could, but the reality is even they can’t compete with the pricing of this big company. So now I’m in a dilemma. I want to honour my principles and work hard to accommodate businesses that are struggling like ourselves. But to do that right now would be giving our business a death sentence, at this stage of its development.

I’m being selfish with my current practice, but I do not intend to live by this for the foreseeable future. We have now almost established our brand, menu and style, and the next steps will be about keeping things fresh. So, when I design new menus, it will be tailored around not only dietaries, unique concepts and flavours, but with the aim to pull in new suppliers, small suppliers and as we grow, bring them on the journey with us.

The most important thing I will not forget, and something I find bigger corporations forget, is that we all start somewhere, including the company I speak about now. Unless you are super rich already, no one can succeed in business without support, networking and building positive relationships. And I can almost guarantee that it was the smaller businesses that started this company’s growth.

In a future post, I will be taking about the ethics of delivery partners and how this culture has impacted small businesses in both positive and negative ways. But for now, I want to talk about some of the businesses I’ve worked with, who have incredible ethics. 

WDS Group, a small wholesaler in Bury, were also a supplier when I was at EventCity. We gave them a chance at working alongside our business that demanded high volume and quick turn arounds, and even though it wasn’t always perfect, they appreciated the support, gave more than 110% and were the only supplier who came to our rescue when the pandemic started. The pandemic really started to cause problems in March 2020, one of the busiest months for the events industry. We had £20,000 worth of stock ordered for the month (more than £60,000 at retail value!) and suddenly all the events were dropping out the diary like flies. Now part of our agreements with suppliers was a ‘order and return’ agreement due to the nature of our business being bespoke. For example, a gala for 1000 may want a particular lager for their event. We can’t run out, we have to stock it, but at the same time we can’t hold on to the remaining stock at the end of the event if it’s not a key line item, as the next event will expect something different. But all of these businesses turned their backs (including the supplier this article was based on). For reasons we did understand, but was it honourable? No! Yet WDS Group turned around to us and bought almost EVERYTHING off us and at cost price, but still, that’s a £20K sale at the start of the lockdown which was not only incredible, but impossible in those times. They had the foresight very early on to run a home delivery service with their operation, putting together hamper kits, small orders and business pricing for small households and it took off very quickly. The fact it was a small company that had this success is incredible. Sadly, EventCity didn’t survive the pandemic, and I was one of the first to get made redundant.

Anyway, now I’ve gone solo, I’ve only put a small amount of business towards WDS Group, purely for logistical reasons as majority of the items I stock from them are beverages, and the bar side of the business hasn’t took off quite yet. But the reality is, they still make me feel like a VIP, they still support our business and are ready to help me out at a moment’s notice. They source products for me, find me unique products, help me out in an emergency situation and Adam Rowiski in particular is a true diamond for this company and a true asset and has so much of my respect. He was the one who supported EventCity in the dark times. He has also been helping us get our feet off the ground with the retail distribution and stockist project, coming to visit, both as a customer and colleague, and genuinely cares.

Another company I wish to discuss is EventHireUK. These guys are absolutely amazing. In particular a gentleman by the name of Jean Moller. The support they have given our start-up business is beyond incredible.

I first met Jean when I was at EventCity when he introduced us to EventHireUK for our furniture hire needs, and to say this was one of the most important meetings of my career is an understatement. Me and Jean went through the trenches to pull off some of the biggest events in my career. In particular McDonalds. They were not just a hire service; they became part of the team. Almost 80% of the kit out of the venue was sourced by them, put in place, washed, collected and logistically mapped out in such great detail. And the pricing was incredible. That was a hard event. Myself and their small team, it was a 28-hour shift, 2500 people for breakfast, lunch and a full gala dinner with big entertainment including Rita Ora. 10 bars were made and two giant field kitchens, each one the size of six traditional commercial kitchens.

From this event, we worked alongside each other for three years. They would source bespoke equipment, great prices and when the pandemic hit, they were hit just as hard, but Jean would get in touch to see how we were all doing.

Come this start-up, we had some logistical nightmares. Firstly, we were both in full-time jobs and we had big kit coming with no real way to take deliveries ad hoc. But they took in the equipment no problem, held on to it until we were ready and delivered and help us move it at very little cost to us. They wanted to help us, and they certainly did more than we could hope for.

When we had the issue from Adexa with the unit (please see the blog Soph-AKA Super Karen) they kindly held on to that piece of equipment for almost five months. No problems at all, and worked to help get it sent back when we finally resolved that nightmare. This wasn’t a small piece of equipment either, it was a full refrigeration unit!

Then when we came to running our photoshoot for the events space, the kit we would be hiring for events was so kindly loaned to us, with the only cost for transport, so we could prepare our showcase day.

There are not enough words to describe just how much I respect this team and company. They care, and although they do business with the big titan events businesses like Manchester Central, they have just as much time, if not more, for the little guy.

I also what to talk about our new payment card supplier Dojo and EPOS provider Grafterr who have been absolutely incredible supporting our small business. But I be will saving this for a future blog as this story goes hand in hand with our story of our former supplier, a company who have been absolutely disgraceful and should be absolutely appalled by their ethics.

Running a small start-up has really opened my eyes this last year. If for any reason this business doesn’t succeed, I will no doubt wish to return to events and hospitality. But this time the way I do business and who with will be so much more important to me and I would rather work harder to support the small businesses than take ease with the big ones! Because the phrase is correct, ‘small businesses do shout the loudest.’ It’s because they need the most help!

The post IT’S THE SMALL BUSINESSES THAT SHOUT THE LOUDEST appeared first on Rawkies Kitchen.

Since starting this journey together, we have learnt so many things and have instantly adapted when it was deemed necessary. In hindsight, we realise now that the décor inside the café, was too white and minimalistic, plus the window signs blocked people’s view as they walked past. Another mistake was branding ourselves as ‘edible raw cookie dough’ in the logo, as that was misrepresenting what we sold in the café and from customer feedback, put some people off from coming in, as they thought we only sold cookie dough (not surprisingly!). But we live and learn!

So, first on our agenda, now that the council had finally approved our signage application form, was to revamp the outside frontage to make it more inviting and encapsulate the variety of our offerings. We also opted to change our logo and name to ‘Rawkies Desserts & Café Bar’, as we felt that this best described our business. We then changed the window signs so people walking past would be able to see inside more easily – it also brought a lot more light inside the café too!

We knew all the external signs had to go, so we had a sign installed at the very top of the property and then after some thought, we decided to use artificial greenery to fill in the middle part – and we love the final look! Credit goes to Adam’s brother-in-law Steve Williams, owner of PSI Professional Signage Installations, for the installation of the signs!

Right, on to the inside! We knew it needed to have a cosier feel and that meant less white! Our original concept was minimalistic and clean, but I think we went a bit too far!

We found some lovely wallpaper online and asked Adam’s dad if he could put it on the walls and install some little twinkly lights to give it that extra cosy feel – he did an amazing job!!

I was in charge of the fake brick work for behind the counter and across the back wall, whilst Adam was taking the lead with the flatpack shelving units to create a bit of privacy between tables and so we could add some books and games for customers to enjoy.

It’s a shame we had to lose the external protruding box sign, as that helped to make us stand out from afar. However, now we have added the greenery to the front, we think (and hope!) we are more easily noticeable to passersby now… and (we think) we certainly don’t look like a “greasy fish and chip shop”!!

We eventually got round to having the lower ground floor refurbished and the guys who installed the new carpet did a fantastic job! We alternated the walls between the lovely wallpaper, fake brickwork and white paint. As there are no windows downstairs, we didn’t want to make the room too dark, so we tried to get the balance right! We finally had an events space where we could hold private dinners, corporate events, meetings, buffet receptions, birthday parties, cocktail masterclasses and Christmas Dinner parties. Adam worked so hard on the menu and he designed a fantastic package for each event. We then spent a full day doing set-ups of each type of event (with the help of Event Hire to provide us with the equipment) so we could create a professional brochure. We were now ready to launch ‘Rawkies Events’.

We are really happy with the overall new look and feel of the place – it finally looks finished! The feedback from our lovely customers has been really positive so far. However, we know we have the heaviest door in Bury(!), so we might decide to give the front door a bit of a wooden panel look, just to make it a bit more inviting and we want to add a feature wall inside the café that will be ‘Instagram-worthy’. No rest for the wicked!

Right, now to talk about our other business venture! So, quite early on in the business, I broached the idea to Adam of (attempting) to take our edible raw cookie dough into the retail market. Being completely honest with you, Adam wasn’t keen as he didn’t think this was a possibility for us. So, I didn’t broach it with him again after that.

However, a few months later, we were still struggling with the business and not getting enough customers in, so I did some more research and then decided to suggest the idea to Adam a second time. After a brief discussion, he agreed to give it a go (hurray!).

Now, this project was going to be a big one! We spent weeks and weeks researching, product testing, calling companies for quotes, testing tubs and boxes – the list was endless! And on top of that, we also had to create a brand presentation showcasing our business and products. This was hard work, but a few months later, we were ready to launch our online store and contact retailers to see if they would like to stock our edible raw cookie dough on their shelves… easier said than done!

We now had three separate elements to our business – Rawkies Desserts & Café Bar, Rawkies Edible Raw Cookie Dough, and Rawkies Events. The next step was how best to promote and advertise them, and on a tight budget!

The post THE RE-BRANDING OF RAWKIES appeared first on Rawkies Kitchen.

I don’t even know where to start with this blog regarding our experience with Bury Council over these last 12 months, but to say we are disappointed would be an understatement.

Now to be very clear. This is not targeting anyone in particular in the Council, nor anyone that works for the Council. There are no names to mention in this scenario and no one we are trying to individually name and shame, but rather the politics around the Council’s processes and how badly it has affected our small business. 

We know that people in the Council work hard, that it can be challenging and we will never fully understand that job without doing it. It’s easy to judge what people do without understanding the mental and physical challenges they go through. Kind of like how the Government told the hospitality industry during the pandemic we were ‘non-essential’. Although let’s face it, most of our current politicians have probably never had a Saturday job when they were growing up. Also on a side note, after working in the events industry and the years in exhibition venues, the best people to manage a roll out of a vaccine operation were sat at home being ‘non-essential’, whilst the government were using the venues managed by these people to run these field hospitals that were… well… I won’t comment any further!

But our grudges are at the support (or lack of) for a small business in times where businesses are really struggling to get established, and to be honest, highlight some of the stupidity that is all too common in government decisions. Which I don’t think is going to be exclusive news to people reading this blog!

Let’s start with last year, before we secured the property…

So, when we found the property, it was a Class E, Educational Facility. It naturally fell into this category in the last few years when there was a reshuffle in the business property classes. Until 2019, it was in the retail / hospitality bracket and we wanted to put it back to that. This was a very expensive cost, with a very lengthy planning application and it was only because we felt we’d found ‘the perfect site’ that we decided to take the risk.

So, at the start of August, our application form was submitted. An application can take 8-12 weeks once verified. Of course, verification was done quickly, (if four weeks is a measure of being quick!). We were then asked at the start of the run whether we’d be willing to allow an extra four weeks due to the backlog of applications they had to review. Now of course we said yes because we didn’t want to be difficult nor create a negative impression of ourselves that could impact our presentation, but we did highlight that we really hoped to open before Christmas, and with the four-week delay to get the application verified, along with the 12-week initial waiting period, it was a tight schedule for us to be open in time for Christmas. We had a plan to get ourselves in and open within a few days if need be, but 16 weeks pushes up into January. This would definitely not be the best time of year to open a dessert business, because let’s face it, in January no one has any money after Christmas and with Christmas out of the way, people are looking to start their new year diets. What a month for a start-up dessert business to start off strong!

Of course every effort was made to get us open in time for December (hoping people can read the sarcasm here!). December was when we finally got a decision, after jumping through loads of tedious hoops which was beyond frustrating. I have OCD, but the OCD tasks we were asked to do to tie up an application which was, not to brag, outstanding, made us want to pull our hair out!

Now we have to open our business in January! Not great, but at least we can start our dream in 2023 and kick off the new year with a bang!

Now comes to the fun part (again… sarcasm!)

We were told as part of the application being successful was on the understanding that the large ‘North Lancs’ sign in the picture below was to be removed. 

This sign was not appropriate for a Conservation Area; no application form had been submitted or approved and it was an eyesore (which we agreed with). Apparently, the previous tenant was going to be instructed to take it down but had left the property and then Covid hit, which delayed the Council in getting it sorted. The site was formally ‘Ronnies on The Rock’, which closed around 2008. The signage for what ‘Ronnies on the Rock’ had when it was in operation was appropriate and what to benchmark ourselves against. A discussion was had and as far as we were aware, the only issue with the signage was that structure and nothing else.

Even though we didn’t like the massive structure at the top, we had no idea what the condition was behind it. Removing it was still not ideal, as it would make us less noticeable from afar, but we have the space at the top of the door, the 3D box sign on the wall and the window stickers, so this should be enough to make us visible. We could see from our neighbouring business that the space allocated at the top of the property was small, narrow and high up, so not exactly going to draw much attention, so the rest of the signage was what we were going to rely on.

Therefore, we decided to go for it – we signed the contract for the lease, purchased the kit and equipment and then the signage for the site and got ourselves up and running in four weeks. We didn’t take the top sign down though as we still needed to do the planning application for the signage. We moved ahead with ordering the rest of the signs as we knew the only problem was the top sign, and it could take a long time to get an application approved, and we needed to open the store and get some money generated to get the business moving. But it was a safe bet that we would be fine… yes we know, we are idiots!

Now open and running, we submitted our signage application to ensure we were compliant, and then waited on the council to approve us to remove the big sign and finally finish the outside of the property, as sat with an ugly empty sign at the top that made us look incomplete and not open, was generally not a pleasant view when people walked past. We were apprehensive, as the cost to remove it was going to be a big one, and we still had no idea how bad the condition was behind it.

Then the worst day came. A lady from the Council arrived and told us that ALL the signs were not acceptable and must be removed. Please see the map below to see how far the council is from this site (it will be important later). The only space allowed was the space at the top, which would end up looking like this…

We were devastated. All the money spent on signage (£1000) going to waste, on top of the cost of the new signage, and removing that giant structure (which we were quoted £750) plus the new signage which was quoted at £1000. At this point we were making £200 a week if we were lucky. No where near our break-even amount. Nobody could see us as we were, and now we were being told to make ourselves even more invisible! All because we were in a Conservation Area. Now bear in mind, our other neighbour has a huge sign on their property!

This has happened because no application had ever been submitted for any signage since Ronnies on the Rock, and if they had, they would have not been approved.

Fair… (to an extent) yes, but after this meeting we discovered some options on Google Street View and decided to have a look at the history of the property. Look at the images below (some we found without Google Street View).

SIX businesses since 2010 (at least), all six using the top sign, four of whom since 2013 were using the sign above the door. Three since 2014 using the 3D light box at the side. All the signage we have to remove. Now don’t forget how far away the council is from our venue. So it took 13 years for them to notice!!?!

Also, if you look at the history of the property. In the last 12 years, there have been three planning applications, not including the two of our own, which require a site visit to inspect, that didn’t pick up on these issues. Something just doesn’t quite add up! The first one in 2011, when the giant sign at the top was already installed, the third one from 2019 when the 3D light box sign and sign above the door was installed.

Yet, a small start-up, who followed the rules by putting an application form in, now has to pay the price for the Council’s and previous tenants’ incompetence. And I’m not going to sugarcoat it, it is the incompetence and the morality of the Council’s error in their ability to do their job, and us to not only rectify it but also pay for it, is beyond disgusting. Were we angry? Damn right we were! This cost us a lot of money for their mistakes, oversights and inability to do their job properly.

Now the lady we were discussing this at the time was lovely, well at first, and did seem genuinely concerned. It was clear the decision was out of her hands and in the hands of more senior management. The poor woman took the brunt of our frustrations and upset and we of course ensured she knew they weren’t directed at her. But at the same time, she never gave us an answer to the most important question that I was asking – why the council had not sorted this in the last 13 years!? And if being honest, it was clear by the end even she didn’t care. We weren’t important enough!

I tried to keep all our conversations documented via email, but it seemed she preferred to keep in contact via the phone. The Council took no responsibility or accountability for their errors and just gave a poor excuse that “these things can get missed”. No explanation. I’m sorry but 13 Years, an eight minute walk away from the site, six businesses and most importantly three planning applications which actually requires them to get in there 500 steps for the day and walk around the corner to approve?! I do not accept their excuse! Sorry, rant (almost) over!

Eventually, we decided to reach out with a compromise. Let us get the top sign sorted, cleaned up and put in a proposal for that before moving ahead with a decision on the rest of the signage.

I then get an email that ignores everything that I’ve suggested, and responds as if I’ve agreed to everything they dictated to at the start and to move ahead with a new planning application that highlights the changes THEY want. I tried to reach out again for an explanation, but of course, they just ignored me!

However, in life there is always a solution, and me and Sophie decided to turn this negative into a positive. With the launch of ‘Kaspa’s Desserts’ taking us by surprise, and us situated in an area with some really well established and fantastic artisan cafés, (Wax and Beans, Ground Up, Bloom and Number 10). We couldn’t rely on our ‘Rawkies Edible Raw Cookie Dough’ USP and branding any more. We needed to step up our food menu and our branding. Plus the frosted window look wasn’t letting people see in (my fault on that one, should have listened to Sophie!) so we decided to have a rebrand; change the window designs and become ‘Rawkies Desserts & Café Bar’.

Still though, it looked very bare. We need to do something to give the front that final lift that didn’t require planning applications as we didn’t want to take the risk that the Council would take another 13 years to fix a problem… sorry… make us fix their problem. Funds were tight as well thanks to the major cost this had caused us. But come September, we came up with a nice way to finish off the front, that didn’t cost the earth and finally allowed us to promote a shop front to be proud of.

Despite these dramas, we understand that this is a Conservation Area and it’s important to follow the rules. We were very clear about this when we put together our Change of Use Application and we meant what we set out to do. But we also feel that if it’s that important to the Council, then why take 13 years to sort it?! I mean JK Rowling released the Harry Potter franchise in less time!

Also, I think it is important to highlight that we wouldn’t have moved ahead with this property if we had known what we were being reduced to. We respect the rules of a Conservation Area, and if it didn’t fit in with our business plan, then we wouldn’t have signed a contract that ties us in to a restricted property for the next five years. But hey, we live and learn and we will make the best of it!

The post BURY COUNCIL VS RAWKIES appeared first on Rawkies Kitchen.

You wouldn’t believe the challenges that we have had to overcome in such a short period of time. It
just goes to show how greedy and sly large companies really are, and how little they care about
small struggling businesses! I guess we were a bit naïve and ignorant in that respect; well, not
anymore!

I doubt any of these companies will surprise you and I am not ashamed to admit that I became their
worst nightmare for the next three months!

The first company I will happily ‘name and shame’ was our electricity company, British Gas Business
(BGB). Due to a screw up at the National Grid and some confusion with our Broker, our business was
linked up with the wrong meter. This was first brought to our attention when our first bill came
through at just £16!! We knew this wouldn’t be right, so we got on the phone straight away and
after doing some digging ourselves, we had finally worked out what had happened. However,
nothing gets rectified with these large companies without prolonged stress! It took me, the company
and our Broker a good couple of months to finally put us on the correct meter. However, by that
time, we had already received three months’ worth of bills at an ‘out-of-contract’ rate (which, as you
can imagine, was extortionate!!). I was not having this, and we were certainly not going to pay it!
After getting some answers from our Landlord, I got straight on the phone to BGB and shock horror,
they were as useful as a chocolate teapot! With some great advice from our Broker (thank you Bob!)
I was ready to fight back! After several emails and phone calls back and forth, BGB finally admitted
that they had not actioned our landlord’s change of tenant request from when he submitted it back
in January, but they were still demanding that we pay them the full amount.

So, not only were we paying for an incorrect electricity meter with British Gas Lite (BGL), but we
were also getting changed extortionate out-of-contract rates with BGB as well!
If that wasn’t enough, Opus Energy also became our enemy when we received an abrupt threatening
letter one day out of the blue, demanding that we pay our gas bill immediately (bearing in mind that
we don’t actually have any gas appliances in the property!), or they will take it to their debt recovery
service. What a lovely letter to receive first thing on a morning! I instantly noticed that the ‘pay by’
date and the invoice date did not match up (the pay by date was dated two weeks prior to the
invoice date!). I had previously spoken to our Broker about the gas situation in the property and he
reassured me that he was dealing with it and getting the gas supply cut off. Anyway, I was livid with
Opus Energy and I got straight on the phone to them to get an explanation as to why we had
received this letter (in error!). Again, I may as well have been talking to a brick wall, as they couldn’t
care less and just kept demanding that we pay this bill. Well, tough sh*t, because I wasn’t going too!
You’d think that would be enough stress for us to deal with in one go, wouldn’t you?! Well, think
again!

Let’s rewind to the beginning of January when we were setting up the business. We had ordered all
our equipment from various online companies, which unfortunately, included the evil company,
Adexa Direct.

We ordered three items from them and luckily the two smaller items arrived without too much
stress! However, they appeared to have ‘lost’ our very large saladette prep counter and were unable
to tell us where it had been delivered too. We had never come across such an unprofessional and
uncaring company in all our life! Now, as you can imagine, we were in panic mode all weekend, as
we needed this counter to store our refrigerated items and cookie dough, as we were due to open

the following week. After ringing round, Nisbets came to our rescue and delivered a similar prep
counter in time for our grand opening (thank you Caroline!). However, sod’s law, on the day we get
this delivery, Adam gets a phone call from a friend to say that he has located the saladette prep
counter at a different address! What are the odds!?

We instantly phoned up Adexa to inform them of this update and that we no longer require the
item. However, even though this error occurred because of their delivery driver’s incompetence, we
would still have to pay a ridiculous amount of fees if we wanted to return the item – how unfair and
unjustified is that!? We were relying on that refund to pay some of the bills!

After receiving some great guidance from Citizen’s Advice, we ended up taking Adexa to the Small
Claims Court and had mediation with them. The mediator was lovely; she understood our
frustrations and empathised with us. The end result was that Adexa agreed to collect the item (free
of charge!) and that we would only need to pay the admin fee for us to get a full refund – halleluiah!
One company down… three to go!

Now, I’m sure you have all met a ‘Karen’ at some point in your life. Well, I became the next level
‘Karen’! (P.S We mean no disrespect to any of our lovely followers named Karen).

Unfortunately, our Broker was extremely busy and preoccupied, so we took it upon ourselves to deal
with these energy companies head on! It was us verses these greedy multimillion pound
corporations, and we were going to make damn sure that we win all three battles! Firstly, I sent a
very detailed written formal complaint to each energy company and my word, I gave them both
barrels!

Rather amusingly, Opus Energy threw themselves under the bus when they breached the GDPR rules
and sent me someone else’s business information! I know, you couldn’t make this stuff up! I’d like to
thank Bob for his part in this! He played a blinder when he (not so) subtly made it known to Opus of
the humongous penalty for GDPR breaches. £300 vs up to several million pounds (4% of their annual
turnover) … it’s a no brainer! No wonder they agreed to write our bill off! Anyway, two down… two
to go!

Next on my hit list was BGL – now they were taking ages to close the incorrect account (shock
horror!), so after they received my complaint, things started moving a bit faster and we eventually
received a refund for three months of incorrect invoices (to be honest, I think they were just sick of
me calling up and complaining, but I didn’t care!). Right… one left to go!

The most difficult company to reason with was BGB – it took them a long time to take responsibility
for their mistakes and after a few phone calls with the complaints department, they agreed to
reduce the bill to a reasonable amount.

It’s just unfortunate that all these issues took our attention away from the business for many
months, and caused us unnecessary stress and sleepless nights, when our primary focus should have
been on Rawkies. Nevermind, we won the battles and the war in the end! Sometimes it pays to be a
‘Karen’!

My advice to anyone ever in a similar situation is that Citizen’s Advice are a great pool of resources
and don’t be afraid to take it further with these companies. If you shout loud enough, you will get
the (fair) result you deserve! Any most importantly, never give up!

This has made us even stronger and more determined than ever to make Rawkies a success. Our
moto is that there is always a solution to every challenge! And we have certainly proved that!
Now, I purposely, didn’t mention about the issues we experienced with the Council during this time
as well, (I know, poor us!), but I will let Adam tell you that story!

The post SOPH – AKA SUPER KAREN appeared first on Rawkies Kitchen.

So, the name and whole initial concept of ‘Rawkies’ was all Adam’s idea, before we even met. Adam
has years of hospitality and events experience and always wanted to run his own business. He first
came up with the idea during the pandemic when he was made redundant from his role at Event
City.

We all love to lick the remaining cookie dough or cake batter from the bowl, don’t we?! Well, in
very small quantities, it isn’t a problem, but in large quantities it’s unsafe to eat due to the uncooked
flour and raw eggs. So, Adam researched how to make cookie dough safe to eat ‘raw’ and realised
that as long as the flour is heat-treated and we don’t use eggs, then it can be eaten in its raw
unbaked form – and actually, it tastes great!

I have loved baking for many years, my speciality was customised cakes – I even set up my own home
cake baking business (part-time) in 2019, called Sophie’s Cakes (I know, how original!). I found it so
therapeutic and I could spend hours on designing and creating the perfect cakes for my customers.
Alongside that, I was (and still am) a full-time Physiotherapist in the NHS. I guess you can say, I like to
keep busy!

Anyway, back to the edible raw cookie dough story! Adam thought he was the first person to come
up with this idea, however, after doing some research he realised he wasn’t and there were a small
handful of places in America that were already selling this dessert and even a few in the UK
(London). However, there was still a gap in the market (especially up North!) so thought he would
still take advantage of it!

By the time we met in early 2021, Adam had already created a full business plan for Rawkies. When
he was explaining it all to me, it looked so complicated but Adam made it sound so easy! He
certainly did a thorough job and made sure he didn’t leave anything out.

I remember Adam coming over to my place one day with a huge test batch of the Night & Day
Rawkies (dark and white chocolate chips) that he and a close chef friend of his had made. My word, I
had never eaten cookie dough before that day and after one mouthful, I was hooked! I ended up
eating most of it by myself!

The original signature flavours of edible raw cookie were Birthday Cake, Hazelnut, Salted Caramel
Brownie (vg), Night and Day (ngc), Rainbow, Chocolate Orange, Honeycomb and Eton Mess.
However, once we were more established, we soon decided to change some of these options! My
favourite was chocolate orange, so I was gutted when we decided to take it off the menu. I was
surprised that it wasn’t a popular flavour! However, I love our current selection of cookie dough – my
(new) favourite is the High Protein Peanut Butter Chip Rawkies; made with whey protein and honey
(instead of flour and caster sugar). Since I am the Executive Baker, I have full control over the cookie
dough recipes, and I am keeping this specific recipe under wraps!

When we first tested making milkshakes with blended cookie dough, we knew this was going to be a
winner and my word, having little pieces of cookie dough with every sip, tastes amazing! My
favourite is definitely the protein milkshake! If you like peanut butter, then you must give this a try!

Something for which I (Sophie) will take full credit for, is the sundaes – during our break one evening,
I randomly put together a dessert made of ice cream, cookie dough, sauces, whipped cream and
toppings. As soon as I started eating it, I told Adam that we must put this on the menu – so we did!
Unsurprisingly, they have become a big hit with our customers; perfect on a warm summer’s day!

Adam is a fantastic chef (I don’t know how he does it!) and not long after we opened, he was soon
developing the menu even further and coming up with even more delicious dishes to offer our customers! I must admit, I did enjoy being the guinea pig and testing out his new concoctions!

Being your own boss is great – we certainly love the freedom it brings to adapt and develop anything we
desire, without having to get permission from someone higher up!

A few months after opening, we had a visit from a lovely couple of customers (so sorry, I can’t
remember your names!) and they came up with a great suggestion of adding boozy milkshakes to
our drinks offering. This really caught our attention and after a few weeks of designing the recipes
and testing them out, we finally got them added to our menu. I think in total, we have re-printed our
menu about 10 times since opening!

The menu has come a long way since January 2023, and our latest editions; doughnut burgers and
Yorkshire Pudding wraps (sweet and savoury), again, all credit goes to Adam(!), we hope we have
something different to offer for everyone.

Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, the business isn’t picking up as quickly as we need it too, and
this is affecting us emotionally as well as financially. We need a plan and fast…

Next chapter coming soon……..

The post WHY EDIBLE RAW COOKIE DOUGH? appeared first on Rawkies Kitchen.

We must have researched and visited dozens of properties across the North West, desperately
seeking to find ‘the perfect site’. We came close to renting two sites in Warrington, and would have
taken one of them if the landlord wasn’t sure a scatty idiot messing us around and changing his mind
several times. Looking back, it’s hard to imagine what Rawkies would have been like at those other
sites; how different the business would have been…

I (Sophie) am a firm believer in that everything happens for a reason; life has proved that, from the
good and the bad. And when we stumbled across this site in Bury for the first time, we weren’t sure
what to make of it, so we put it in the ‘maybe pile’. It must have been a couple of months later when
we revisited the advert for it and really thought about the pros and cons. Pros: town centre location,
big site, good condition, no major competition for desserts. Cons: rent was top of our budget, there
was a whopping great sign on it from the previous tenant that we would have pay to remove, it
would need a change of use application with the council as it was formerly an education centre, but
most importantly, from the outside, it didn’t have that hospitality feel or appearance, so would need
a bit of creative thinking to get it up to scratch. Anyway, we decided to visit the site and go from
there. When we entered the property, we knew it had potential and saw the possible footfall that it
could have; we thought we found the perfect site, so we eventually decided to bite the bullet.

However, before we could sign on the dotted line, we needed to research this change of use
application, which was completely new territory for both of us! After undertaking a lot of research
(and I mean a lot!), we decided we were going to write all the documents ourselves. We are both
intelligent, organised and assertive people; we felt we didn’t need a company to do it for us and
charge the earth! So, over the next few months, Wetherspoon became our second home and we
worked so hard to get the application forms and required documents spot on. We really learnt a lot
from completing this application process and once submitted, we could breathe a sigh of relief! We
had done our very best and if the council reject it, then it wasn’t meant to be.

We did quite a bit of research into this and realised that many councils like to retain as many local
community and learning centres (Class F properties) as possible, so we knew there would be a good
chance that the council would reject our application form. However, by that point, we had fallen in
love with the site, so we wanted to at least try.

Now came the waiting game. We knew it wouldn’t be a quick process but my word, the council were
slow and kept asking us to change (irrelevant!) details on our drawings and site maps! The original
decision date was scheduled for the beginning of November 2022, which we were fine with, as that
meant we could be in the property and ready for the Christmas trade. However, due to the council’s
backlog, they asked us for an extension, which we had no choice but to agree too! Even though,
opening a new dessert café in January, is probably the worst time to do it!

However, in early December 2022, four months after submitting the application form, we got the
answer we were hoping for! We were going to open our very own business! We were so excited and
proud of ourselves; we did this without any professional help!

After sorting out all the legal paperwork with solicitors, we finally got the keys on Boxing Day; this
was such a surreal, exciting moment for us both. We finally had the keys to a commercial property!

The following day we went to Bury to start on the redecorating. We parked our car in the car park
and headed through the town centre. We were still in our own little excited world, that was until we
stumbled across something that burst our bubble… Kaspa’s Desserts were also coming to town!

Typical, we visited Bury on several occasions and that building was empty; we had no idea that a
major dessert chain was planning on opening round the corner from us! If we did, then we would
have likely not taken on this property. I (Sophie) stayed positive and objective about the situation;
we had developed the menu so much in the last four months that we were no longer just desserts;
we had a bar menu, burgers, flatbread pizzas and salads. We weren’t just going to be a dessert shop,
so I wasn’t too worried. However, Adam took a little longer to be convinced, but it was too late to
back out now…

Next chapter coming soon……..

The post THE PERFECT SITE? appeared first on Rawkies Kitchen.