After working as a nurse for 37 years Amanda Palmer embarked on a new career opening a cake shop in Keswick town centre. Cumbria Business Growth Hub were delighted to support Amanda as she made the transition into running her own business.

Having impressed friends and family with her baking, Amanda decided to start selling her home-made cakes at car boot sales and craft markets around West Cumbria, often selling out!

With her cake business gaining momentum, Amanda decided to put her retirement plans on hold and officially launch the business under the name Bellaport Bakes. The inspiration for the name came from Bellaport Marina in Harrington where she grew up on the Cumbrian coast.

Amanda set up shop on Keswick’s busy high street selling home-made cakes, including vegan and gluten free cakes, teas and coffees, as well as sandwiches and sausage rolls made from locally sourced sausage meat from Pioneer.

Operating under the motto of “Made with quality ingredients, baked with love”, Bellaport Bakes has gained a loyal following of returning customers who drop in for a slice of cake, a coffee and a chat. The shop has also been a hit with the tourists who visit Keswick each day, a customer base which is set to grow over the coming months.

Amanda’s aim is for her shop to be plastic free. She currently uses biodegradable packaging and looks to reduce waste wherever possible.

Having completed one of our training courses previously, Amanda was already aware of Cumbria Business Growth Hub when she got in touch to enquire about support.

After a quick consultation we paired Amanda with our business adviser Gail Gravett, an expert in setting up and running successful businesses, finance, marketing and customer relationship management.

Amanda said: “My experience with the Growth Hub has been very positive, everyone I’ve encountered has been friendly and helpful. [My business adviser] Gail is very informative and knowledgeable especially around reducing waste and likeminded suppliers. Gail has helped give me direction and great tips how to grow my business.

My future plans are I see this initially as a 5 year project. I intend to start doing some cakes to order and develop the business to business links which I’ve already started. As the shop gets busier I intend to hire a casual member of staff during the summer which I will enjoy as I love teaching what I’ve learned myself.

My favourite thing about running my own business is that I love meeting new people and being given challenges by customers’ requests and orders. I love the flexibility the job brings and I especially love the creative side of the business.”

Here at the Growth Hub, we love nothing more than seeing one of our clients benefit from our support then go on to build their business and have a positive impact on their community and Amanda has done just that!

Our Business Start-Up Support is supported by Allerdale Borough Council.