Two students from Shrewsbury Colleges Group (SCG) have defied the odds and opened their own bakery in Ellesmere during the COVID pandemic.
Bethany Beeson and Chloe Cornall, both aged 18 from Shrewsbury, met on the Catering Course at College and individually began baking cakes to order from their homes during lockdown to create some extra money.
While remotely supporting each other through lockdown, they found a commercial property on Shrewsbury Road, Ellesmere which became available at the end of May and they took the plunge and opened a joint bakery, The Bakers Treat.
Bethany said: “We knew we had a challenge setting up the business and getting the bakery ready before returning to college in September.
“We spent the first month deep cleaning and sourcing equipment and officially opened at the beginning of July.”
The Bakers Treat originally opened as a pre-order only bakery, but by the end of July the bakery was open for walk-ins due to the high demand.
Now selling home-made cakes, jams, pastries and breads, the bakery has been a hit with locals.
“We met at College and both had a dream to open a bakery one day but had no idea it would happen so quickly!” said Chloe.
“We both learnt incredible skills at the college and have already built a lot of experience working in the hospitality industry.
“Balancing college work and a business is difficult but the support we are receiving from our tutors the college is amazing.”