An independent trader in Stafford has spoken about the reasons behind her difficult decision to close the doors to her brownie shop.
Laura Mansell’s Bear Hut Brownies, on Chapel Street, will cease trading on Saturday, 8 June.
The keen baker has been serving treats in the Stafford area for four years but says being hit with the cost-of-living crisis, a hike in energy prices, egg shortages, increases in the prices of her main ingredients and now the cocoa crisis, has made her realise the time is right to shut up shop.
Daily Focus recently reported that the latest British Chambers of Commerce’s Quarterly Economic Survey shows only 56 per cent of British businesses are expecting an increase in turnover in the next 12 months and almost half are expecting the price of their goods or services to rise.
According to the research, 39 per cent of firms in the hospitality sector have reported a decrease in cash flow.
Laura, who will instead be spending more time with her miracle baby born seven months ago, told Daily Focus: “It has not been an easy decision to make, but it has come at the right time.
“I love the shop and will miss our customers, but prices are so high, footfall is so low and I need to put my energy into my daughter.”
Laura, who previously worked as a wedding co-ordinator and in the fashion industry, has always loved baking but only started seriously considering it as a business venture at the start of 2020.
When lockdown hit and she was put on furlough, she volunteered at a hut in Milford – the village where she lived at the time – and started getting requests for orders of brownies after giving them out to the local community.
Bear Hut Brownies started in June that year and within four months, her partner Leo Ward had left his job as a postman to join her full-time.
The pair worked 18 to 20-hour days to get the shop, formerly occupied by Oatcakes and Milkshakes, ready for its opening in April 2022.
Laura added: “We caught Covid after our opening week and had to shut the shop for a little while. But generally, the shop was really busy right from the start and we took two people on within a few months.
“We started seeing things change when the cost-of-living crisis started and people began to shop with us less. Then came egg shortages and price increases because of bird flu and butter and sugar prices have gone up as well.
“Between opening the shop in April and our first Christmas, we had to put the prices up twice and they have gone up again since then.”
The chocolate used in Laura’s brownies has increased by 50 per cent from £67 for 10kg to now almost £100 for the same amount.
Eggs that used to cost 13 pence each when Bear Hut Brownies first opened now cost over 30 pence.
Butter prices have also increased, and the current cocoa crisis could see chocolate prices rising even more.
Laura continued working through her high-risk pregnancy, giving birth to Cassia, who arrived five weeks early, in September last year.
She added: “All I ever wanted was a baby, but I thought it would never happen for me. Bear Hut Brownies was a distraction from that.
“If I didn’t have my daughter, I would probably keep working and try to push through it but things are incredibly hard for the business at the moment and I don’t want to miss out on precious time with my girl.”
- The shop remains open and bookings are still being taken for bespoke orders up until 8 June.
