A year of supply problems

STEPHANIE Marshall has had supplier troubles at her Stockportbased company Treehouse Bakery since last year.

Stephanie, who makes vegan recipe kits for home bakers, had to delay her company launch several times in 2020 as cash and carries were not taking on new customers and she struggled to find some ingredients.

‘I started to notice it was harder to find some ingredients, such as cocoa powder and flour, several months ago,’ says Stephanie, 31. ‘Soon, other products such as Jammie Dodgers and branded vegan products were also hard to find.’

She still does not know from one day to the next which products will be available from suppliers.

‘I had a big order for brownies a few weeks ago, but couldn’t get all the cocoa I needed,’ she says. ‘I had to go to the cash and carry first thing for three days in a row to get enough.’