Teenage hobby to cake shop owner
A20-YEAR-OLD from Southport started baking as a hobby when she was 16 and has gone on to open her own cake shop just four years later, employing her best friends.
Leanne Prescott spent most her teenage life playing in different football academies across the North West from Manchester United to Everton.
After starting baking for family and friends, she soon started to pick up a clientele. After just three years Leanne, along with her mum Petula and dad
Peter, decided to transform the outhouse at their home into a workshop.
Leanne said: “I first started my page when I was 16 as a hobby baking for family and friends. I started baking in my mum and dad’s kitchen, within three years I needed more space. With help from my family we converted the outbuilding into a workshop which we out grew within three months.
“Soon after we started looking for my dream shop which we found quicker than expected in the perfect location.
“Baking wasn’t always something I was 100% invested in although I had always loved doing.
“I had perilously played football from the age of 10 at academy level and spent most of my time doing that which made me a committed person.
“I never expected baking to become a career for me but I was overjoyed at the positive feedback I got from my earlier customers and the progression I made by teaching myself.”
Leanne is now living her best life with her “dream shop” and spending day and night working with her close friends. However, her success hasn’t come without its challenges. With the Covid-19 pandemic impacting everyone, Leanne saw a drop off in sales at first.
But with every cloud comes a silver lining, and Leanne saw a boost in social media interaction.
The young business owner found that people were following her more intensively on her pages, which she says “took Cake Corner to the next level”.
She said: “At the beginning of the pandemic we were concerned as sales started to drop slightly, but we continued and after a couple of months we started to increase in sales.
“During the pandemic people had more time on social media which we feel helped grow our clientele.
“I definitely think that the pandemic took Cake Corner to the next level.”
The new shop is hard to miss, with the pink paint being a standout on Liverpool Road in Birkdale.
The young entrepreneur opened the shop on July 3, with the shop selling out of cakes everyday since. Leanne wasn’t shy of thanking her friends and family that have helped her get to where she is.
She said: “A problem we had to overcome is that we didn’t anticipate the volume of work load to keep the shop freshly stocked up.
“We now have to have three staff in our shop and two in our workshop 5/6 days a week.
“I had a lot of support from my family, especially my mum and dad who have supported me from the very beginning. I also have had a lots of help from my brother and his partner Emma.
“My nephew Leo who is two has only ever called me Auntie Cake!
“My boyfriend Ben has always supported me massively, before I employed my two best friends he never hesitated to help me bake.
“My two best friends Heather and Alex have been a huge part of my business, I couldn’t have done it without them. They have worked so hard for me over the last year.”