Dublin food startup Boutique Bake is braving the mud of Ratheniska as one of the graduates of Tesco’s Taste Bud programme, which has helped accelerate the business’s growth around the country.

Forty Irish firms are being showcased by Tesco at the National Ploughing Championships for the Taste Bud supplier development programme, which is run by Tesco and Bord Bia.

The initiative supports Irish food and drink producers at various stages of their development and helps them grow their business with Tesco in Ireland and in Tesco markets abroad.

Earlier this year, Boutique Bake started selling in 11 Tesco stores following participation in the Taste Bud programme. The company’s products are now stocked in 47 Tesco stores throughout Ireland.

Based in Donnybrook, Boutique Bake was founded by friends Catherine Buggy and Suzanne Lynch in June 2013.

In Association with

The company produces a range of five gourmet baking mixes, which are currently stocked in a variety of Supervalu, Tesco and Dunnes Stores outlets nationwide, as well as 40 gourmet stores throughout Ireland.

Passion

Suzanne learned the culinary trade on a Ballymaloe cookery course, followed by a two-year stint in gourmet café, Treat Deli and Gift Shop, producing patisseries, homemade breads and cakes. She then went on to be a private cook for a family catering business. Catherine studied social science in UCD and has a Master’s in HR from the UCD Smurfit School of Business. She was working with Saongroup before joining her friend in the new venture.

“Catherine has always been a huge foodie and keen baker, so we turned our passion for food into a business,” said Suzanne.

The entrepreneurs saw a gap in the market for quality baking mixes. “Most baking mixes on the market contain preservatives and other ingredients that defy the essence of natural home baking, which is the concept we are selling,” Suzanne explains. The five Boutique Bake mixes, ranging from lemon drizzle cake to flapjacks, cost €3.99, or €2.99 for the brown bread mix.

Boutique Bake scores strongly with its packaging, with was designed by DaveFitz Design in Booterstown in Dublin. “Our mixes are sold in a vibrant cube-shaped box that stands out on the shelves and appeals to the younger market,” said Suzanne.

“We feel the packaging is more visually more appealing than our competitors and resembles a gift or present, so that people associate Boutique Mix with treating themselves.”

Personal investment and a priming grant from Dublin City LEO helped get Boutique Bake up and running. As the company has grown, they have also borrowed from a bank for working capital purposes.

It helps their cause that the multiples such as Tesco and SuperValu are very eager to be seen to be supporting micro enterprises. Enrolling on the Bord Bia development programme was crucial in that regard.

Engaging

The Boutique Bake founders maintain a website – boutiquebake.ie – as well as a busy Facebook presence that has attracted nearly 2,000 ‘likes’.

“We are very engaging and are focused on building a community around our products,” Suzanne maintained. “Our aim is to appeal to people who have never baked before.”

The plan for 2015 is to expand the company’s distribution listings, as well as looking into exporting to the UK. The venture is currently a self-employment enterprise for the two founders, as production and distribution are outsourced.

Part-time staff are hired for in-shop marketing and they expect to have to bite the bullet and recruit full-time employees this year.

And the biggest challenge? “Transitioning from a very small scale operation to a medium scale in terms of adequately financing the business’s working capital needs.”

Boutique Bake founders Suzanne Lynch (right) and Catherine Buggy