What it's like to...run a bakery from your home: Biking her way to tasty success

She can cover a distance of 13 miles, dropping off an array of baked goodies from sourdough loaves to pain au chocolat for her grateful customers as she goes.

Two years ago the artisan baker launched her business La Bonne Parisienne from her home in Shrewsbury and has been tempting people’s tastebuds every since.

“Baking was always my relaxation. My grandmother Muriel was a Mary Berry of her time. She was a demonstrator for the electricity board teaching people how to cook with their new ovens. So I named my delivery bike Muriel after her,” says Alison.

She decided to indulge fully in her hobby after suddenly being made redundant, deciding it was the right time to take the plunge and start her new venture.

“The stars aligned for me. I went to the job centre and said that I didn’t want a job, I wanted to start a business. I was able to apply for a new enterprise allowance once I had shown that my idea had legs.I put together a business plan and got stuck in,” explains Alison.

As she didn’t have the funds to open a shop with large overheads and wanted to start small, she hit on the idea of offering customers a subscription service.

“I hadn’t been made redundant with tens of thousands of pounds so setting up a shop wasn’t going to be possible and I didn’t have the expertise to do that.

“I did some research, it was just before Deliveroo, and it seemed that delivering to people directly was the way forward. Using a vintage bike was a unique selling point, kept my overheads down and was environmentally friendly,” says Alison, whose background is in business and finance.

People sign up for four or 12 weeks and then look forward to their weekly delivery of baked delights from around the world.

They can choose to receive bread or pastries or a mixture of both – but whatever arrives will be a surprise and they don’t know what they’ve got until they open their bag.

“I have a repertoire of breads and pastries but I also add in something different for the season as well as themed months to keep it interesting both for the customer and for me baking them.

“I’ve found that people like not knowing what’s coming each week. When people began re-subscribing, I realised I needed to keep it interested by offering continental breads as well doing different breads depending on the season. They are all handcrafted using traditional methods,” says Alison, who completed a course with Shropshire’s most successful baker, Robert Swift, whose family has been in business for more than 150 years.

When she introduces her customers to something new whether it’s an authentic Greek tsoureki, a bread with hard-boiled eggs eaten at Easter or traditional German stollen, she includes an information leaflet with the parcel containing facts and serving suggestions.

At the moment she delivers within a mile and a half radius of her home covering the areas of Copthorne,Radbrook,Oxon,Meole Village, Belle Vue and Frankwell.

“It was originally a mile but then I had people interested in subscribing who were just outside the area so I extended it and added Frankwell to make the route a loop back to my home.” explains Alison, who’s business allows her to also indulge in her hobby of cycling.

But she hopes to expand the delivery zone as she continues to grow the business in the future and may look at moving the bakery out of her home.

“When I first started I thought people would subscribe but not stay but I’ve actually found that while they are harder won, they keep subscribing and that’s really nice. This is my second year and I’ve improved because I’ve got a better handle on what works and what sells,” says Alison, who also sells her sweet and savoury creations at events.

“I always find that at events anything that is chocolately always sells before anything else. With my subscribers, a fruit danish or pain aux raisins goes down well,”she adds.

Her business has grown through word of mouth and social media which has led to many local businesses requesting orders of bread and pastries.

They include Dough & Oil in Castle Street, for whom Alison bakes around 300 bagels each week and Daisy & Tilly’s in Bayston Hill where her goods are available to buy to take home including her bread of the week. They are also served at the Shed, The River View Café and Bistro Jacques and she also makes spiced fruit tea cakes for Pengwern Books.

Alison prides herself on using authentic flours and Normandy and Breton butters. “I like to use local produce where I can like apples and cheese and support other local artisan businesses.

She enjoys the baking process but says it can get a bit tense at times. “My baking is done to military precision, it’s all about time planning. It’s a bit like when you walk into a bank and they have the different clocks with the time in London, New York and Tokyo but I have timers going off for bread, croissants and bagels when they’re done proofing or need to be taken out of the oven.

“There is constant bleeping. If the weather changes, dough will prove quicker so i have to act fast. It can be fraught and involve long hours but i still enjoy it. Baking for yourself is generally more relaxing and you get into the zone. It’s good thinking time,” Alison tells us.

So far she has been delighted with how her home bakery has been received. “I’m really pleased with how the concept is working and I’ve had some really lovely feedback.

“I wouldn’t be so passionate about what I’m doing if I wasn’t peddling around, talking to people about why they liked and getting that personal feedback. I really enjoy that interaction with the customers,” says Alison.

*Follow La Bonne Parisienne on Twitter @LaBonneParis1