Bakes fit for purpose
GROWING cake brand Fitbakes, whose low-sugar, high-protein products have hit the sweet spot with health-conscious slimmers, is to expand with cook-at-home ranges.
New cake, pancake and waffle powder mixes will be unveiled from this autumn and the UK producer is also eyeing the bread and pie markets, buoyed by rising demand and supermarket success.
Forecast turnover is £2.4million for next year and £4.5m in 2024 for the company which, after £1.5m of investment, is currently in the throes of a further £1m raise.
Founded by nutritionist Ella RauenPrestes and her husband Lucien Butler in 2018, it began as a kitchen table startup.
The Brazilian, who now lives in the Cotswolds, noticed the guilty relationship many friends had with cake, and this prompted the first-time entrepreneur to whip up something different.
“In Brazil healthy substitutes such as stevia or coconut water are the norm so I mixed some whey protein and natural sweeteners into some low-calorie bites and Fitbakes was born,” she explains.
“My background is in IT. Selling directly online, the orders poured in. What was a side hustle became a fulltime business making healthy foods.” With cakes and bars in nine flavours, Fitbakes’ most popular products are its millionaire caramel cake and Belgium chocolate crunch bar, while a new birthday cake flavour joins the pack this month.
Customers used to be women in the 25-44 age bracket, but “the audience is getting younger and there’s also a lot of men since launching the Tesco Meal Deal last year”, adds Rauen-Prestes.
Now Fitbakes has created key rural jobs for eight staff and employs 30 more indirectly.
Strengthening the management team has helped it secure listings with Waitrose and Holland & Barrett as well as Tesco and Selfridges.
Outsourcing production since 2019 has reduced costs by 40 per cent. It required manufacturing procedures that could cope with Fitbakes’ different ingredient formulations.
“We’ve steadily improved texture and flavours, and makers took a chance on us,” reflects Rauen-Prestes.
After pulling out of Europe because of red tape, the business is selling in Dubai and hopes to return to Germany. Lockdown first shut Fitbakes’ manufacturer as online sales took off “but it then stayed open and saved us,” says Rauen-Prestes. That experience and recent shortages have led her to fortify Fitbakes’ supply.
“We’re in the process of duplicating every supplier so we’ll keep going no matter what,” she explains.
“We’ll keep the balance between online direct sales and those in supermarkets. Bread is the top-selling aisle and we aim to be there too.
“At work I’m known as the ‘supply chain procedure psycho’ and I’m happy to be the overkill that works.”
‘We’re duplicating every supplier’