Artisan Bakery and Coffee - Flour and Feast

Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Roxana Riley, co-owner of Flour and Feast, located in East Yorkshire, UK.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

Hi there! I'm Roxy, and along with my partner Joe, I have created Flour and Feast. We are a small, artisan bakery based in Hull, East Yorkshire, in the UK. We started out just over three years ago with no money and no idea what we were doing! Since then, we have grown from a small unit in an indoor market to a bricks-and-mortar bakery off a street running from the old fruit market in Hull, on the edge of the marina.

The space was an empty box, and we built it into what it is today from scratch. Even the plastering and tiling were done by us; it was a huge learning curve but made the whole space really personal and gave it the character that it was lacking.

We bake every day, focusing on high-quality pastries, cakes, viennoiserie, and bread. The bread is made to our own unique formula, which consists of an eight-year-old sourdough starter and a yeasted poolish, making it completely its own thing. We try to use as many local businesses as we can, including milk fresh from a local, family-run farm and coffee from a local artisan coffee roaster.

Our customers are the loveliest people around. Some work/live in the area and others go out of their way for our viennoiserie and bread (especially the flatbread and focaccia, our latest addition) which is made by hand on the premises every day. We're pretty much the only artisan bakery in Hull, and the support from our customers has been incredible!

Tell us about yourself

I have been in the catering industry for 8 or 9 years now. I have always enjoyed creating and have a degree in Fashion and costume interpretation. After taking a job as a head baker at Gail's bakery in London, due to a lack of opportunity in Hull, I decided to move back home and try and implement some of what I had learned during my short stretch at Gail's. I started baking cakes from home, and after a few months, I was approached to open up a stall in the local indoor market. Being able to bring something different to my local area and the pleasure it brings the locals is what motivates me every single day. I genuinely feel it would be a real loss not to have the bakery in my little city.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

Joe and I recently contracted COVID and had to stay home for the entire week. It was the first time we had had to let our small team of staff run the place without us, and they absolutely smashed it! It made me realize how important it is to have good people in the workplace. I was super proud that we had brought them together and built such a wonderful team.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

Ha! There are too many things to narrow it down to one, but I would say it's the fact that you are not just an owner of a bakery. You are the plumber, electrician, cleaner, therapist. One minute you're baking a cake for a customer, and the next, you're fixing a leak or cleaning out a blocked drain. It really is a huge learning curve. Also, managing a team of staff hasn't always been easy.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

Firstly, just start. It sounds ridiculous but just make that first inquiry. The ball will naturally keep rolling from there.

Secondly, you need to be willing to put in lots of hard work and effort yourself and to understand how it works before hiring other people to do it for you.

Thirdly, you need to be open to change. Running a business is fluid. Nothing is permanent, and you need to be willing to try out different things in order to keep them fresh and interesting.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

Running a business isn't for everyone. It takes up a lot of time, and there will be a lot of sleepless nights, but if you have a passion for something and are good at it (or can employ people who are), it will be worth it. I couldn't imagine working for anyone else now. Also, employ people who are better than you!

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.flourandfeast.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flourandfeast/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/flourandfeast

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

Feel inspired to start, run or grow your own subscription business? Check out subkit.com and learn how you can turn "one day" into day one.