With two children at primary school I decided to join the Parent and Teachers Association. I wanted to meet some new people and do something to help the school raise money.  People that know me, I am not the most organised of individuals but I knew there was one thing I could do, so this is when the baking began.  For the next year, I made cakes and donated them to the school cake stall.  One Christmas, the PTA held a Christmas Extravaganza and I decided to have my own stall selling Christmas cupcakes…I made 200 Christmas cupcakes and sold out before the night was done…. this is where things started!

In 2012, I felt ready to start going back to work and got a part-time job as a waitress in a local deli.  I began experimenting making cupcakes, sponges, tiffin’s then cheesecakes for the Deli when I got home from work.  After a period of time local wholesale customers came along and even a client in London.

This was now more than just a hobby … The Vintage Birdcage Cakery was born through the love of baking and a passion of vintage shops.

Through the commitment, dedication and constant support from family and friends my dream was coming true !

Baking progressed rapidly for me over the next year and I roped in extra hands as the walls in my kitchen and then the dining room became laden with ingredients and packaging.  The orders were growing fast.

A purpose built commercial kitchen became a necessity, the ideal starter kitchen came up on a local farm. This became the new VBC home.

Within 6 months and now four of us at the Farm Kitchen, things were getting very crowded with increasing orders all the time, so realised another move had to be made to larger premises and quickly.

My husband and his friend / business partner had their eye on a derelict building complete with overgrown garden and bricked up beautiful stone archways in Yate which is now The Vintage Birdcage as you may know. It was an amazing vision, so with the help, skills and physical energy of JT Commercials Ltd, the renovation was swiftly underway. This was 2016 and after five months of hard graft, we moved in.  This was an extremely daunting but exciting time not knowing what was around the corner as it was a huge risk.

The plan was to bake, sell wholesale cakes to local Deli’s, Café’s and Pubs and to teach cake decorating and serve takeaway cake and coffee to the park goers.  Little did we know our visitors liked it so much they wanted to stay!  So, from a cold, damp, empty shell, came warmth, welcome and a caring heart of homemade produce, served with a smile to brighten anyone’s day.

We are very fortunate to be situated by the award winning Kingsgate Park and we were welcomed with open arms and the park guardians thought that we would be a great asset to the local community.  After numerous meetings with the council we were also granted direct access to the park with our very own gate which has proved invaluable.

Close family and friends have been a huge support every step of the way, it has been tough bringing up 2 children, running a home and building a business from scratch. This is a dream and I love everyday working with an incredible dedicated team, bringing something unique to the local community.

I would like to thank everyone who has made this dream a reality!

Nicole

Founder
Vintage Birdcage Cakery