Your One Stop Catch Up Shop

November 2011

I have been writing 'I Want to Bake Free' since June 2010. Some of you are new to the story and many of you have been following since the early days; either way thanks for taking part.

This post is a quick guide to everything that has happened so far for to bring you up to speed. I have taken the introduction to each post so that you can decide for yourself if you are interested in that part of the tale.

Ideally you should be able to read this one post and have an idea on the story so far...

Coffee Controversy - A Matter of Taste and Trust

November 2011

The Man from Del Monte, was from Bolton

Today I want to share with you how I am sourcing suppliers. I have given a lot of thought as to how I want to do business and who I should partner with. I don't believe that you have to travel around the World to personally inspect suppliers unless you actually are the man from Del Monte. As I do not have a panama hat or white suit I have decided to find suppliers who can do the job for me. The people that I am dealing with work very hard to source their ingredients from the best suppliers, for me they must also be...

• Passionate about their product
• Trustworthy and ethical
• Strive for the very best quality
• Reliable and sustainable

If the man from Del Monte can say yes, to the above then that's the decision made.

Bake the Menu - Video Blog

September 2011


Early in a start up business you need to decide what to deliver to your customers and the most cost effective way to do that. This decision making process is crucial and must take into account, consistency of delivery, quality and pricing to name but a few. I will deliver a high quality product in a comfortable and classically vintage tea room.

There are three excellent reasons to 'Bake the Menu'. Firstly for quality control; to ensure that menu items are of the best quality and recipes can be tweaked where necessary. Sadly this also means that i'll have to eat the menu too. Secondly I need to work out the exact costings of each menu item, to set a fair price and identify the cost of sale for each menu item. The third reason to 'Bake the Menu' is so that I can keep a video log to update the website with all the mouth watering and delicious home baking that my tea room will serve.

My rules for this film series are simple and I will guarantee you the following:

• Films will be kept short and snappy
• I'll highlight our favourite tips
• Everything is 100% home made where practical 
• We always wash our hands!
• Recipes are available on request, unless they're family secrets

In return:

• If you have something to say, post it on the blog or subscribe to my Channel on Youtube
• If you have some of your own top tips, then let us know
• Get involved & be inspired

Without further ado I bring you Volume One...

ALL VIDEOS AND GALLEY CAN BE FOUND IN MY GALLERY HERE

Captain Janeway Lives in Wales

August 2010

At the risk of losing you

I realise that a blessay about Star Trek is likely enough to make one half of you beam with joy while the other half leap to force close your browser. This is about my story and nothing to do with increasing power to the pattern buffer, inverting your tachyon beam through the deflector array or ejecting the warp core.

This is not a picture of Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Intrepid-class USS Voyager. The devout amongst you will know that this is a photo from the filming of the pilot episode of Voyager featuring the actress who got the gig before Kate Mulgrew made the role her own and that this character played by the French Canadian actress Genevieve Bujold was named Captain Nicole Janeway. Luckily for the series she walked out after day one of filming.

16 years later I took it as a sign of divine providence that my newly assigned Welsh Assembly Government business adviser is named Jane and that this Jane married a gentleman named Way.

Jane Way Captain of Industry

I met Mrs Jane Way upon registering my interest to receive free impartial business advice via the Welsh Assembly Government. Being fortunate enough to live in the Celtic red corner of the UK known as Wales (see map) and being forthright in my desire to create jobs (for myself), the government is keen to make sure that good business ideas flourish. They fulfil this desire by subsidising the commercial business support entity Business in Focus.