Blog

Our Team Has Grown!

17/10/2018

Team 280 Bakes has grown again!

This week we welcomed Triana to the team, our latest home baker recruit. She's a Bristol resident, originally from the USA. She's dab hand at gluten free baking, so if you order a gluten free cake from us, you may well have one from our new team member!

Triana says she loves the creativity of decorating cakes, so we look forward to her designs. He favourite cake is chocolate though - no contest!

Triana joining us has made us the biggest team we've ever been - how exciting! You're so welcome, Triana - let's get you baking!

Louise
Owner, 280 Bakes

We have a new baker!

19/8/2018

Bristol cake lovers can Relax. We now have another pair of hands to cope with the demand in your area!

We're really pleased to announce that Debbie has joined us this month. Debbie is from the Emersons Green side of town, not so far from 280 Bakes HQ, but she was our first remotely recruited baker, posting us samples in the mail.

And then there were six! This is the largest our team has ever been, exciting times!

The Team @ 280 Bakes

How to recruit a baker

8/6/2018

In today's blog post we'll be showing you how to recruit a baker!

Much of this will apply to another and many other job vacancies, and having been on the end of some very poor recruitment practices in my time, I thought it would be an interesting blog to post.

Why post this now, you ask? Well, we've just opened recruitment for our Stroud Baker position! Find out more about the vacancy here, and let us know if you're interested in applying to join our merry crowd of home bakers!

How to Recruit a Baker

1. Don't be so nosey as to ask if the applicant has access to a car and a driving license.

Driving isn't necessary when carrying out cake deliveries across Bristol and beyond. Our public transport network is fabulous and there's never a risk of the cake being damaged in transit. Stray elbows never happen!

2. Always Employ a baker without tasting their baking.

You've seen photos of their cakes (which are totally legit, honest!) so why would you want a taste? Presentation is so much more important than taste - who cares if they can follow a recipe?!

3. Don't bother introducing New team members to your customers - they don't care who works for you.

Faces to a business, that doesn't matter in these days of exploding online commerce. You don't need to put that kind of self-indulgent crap on your blog, taking up the space potential photos of cake could have, and social media is dead now WhatsApp dominates, anyway. Don't post their faces about - your new recruits may be shy!

4. When using indeed as a recruitment portal, Never use their 'filter' questions as part of the process of application.

Before applicants can submit their expression of interest, we asked for three specific questions:

"Do you have a car?"
"Do you have more than five years baking experience?"
"Do you speak English?"

Complete waste of time. This didn't filter the candidate applications AT ALL and we ended up with a real mixed bag of wannabes. If something is essential to the role, why waste your time going into that much detail at the first point of the recruitment process?

5. Once you've recruited, just let them roll with it.

No one likes being babysat - give them access to your orders, recipes and let them go. They're on their own from now on! Who needs someone checking in on them after a week or so of joining the team? They are freelance, they can cope, and they do have your number if they have any questions or emergencies, after all!

If you're recruiting (baker or other) this summer, let me know how you get on. I'd love to hear your feedback on our top 5 tips...

Louise
Owner at 280 Bakes

We Now Deliver Cakes To Stroud!

1/6/2018

Big News: Our home baked cakes are now available for delivery to homes and businesses in Stroud, Gloucestershire.

We were looking for some significant way of celebrating our second birthday (today, yay!), and thought that expansion into a third town would be perfect!

Our cakes are now available seven days a week in Portishead, Bristol and Stroud.

280 BAKES - delivery of cakes in Stroud

From today, we have home bakers ready to take your orders and bake a delicious cake for your office meeting, birthday party, or just a nice treat for tea. Just give us a call on 07835 882817 or contact us here and we'll deliver. Same day delivery is available, and of course, we have our fabulous vegan and gluten free recipes if you need them.

Want to work for us?
And, if you're a keen baker, we're expanding our baking network, so take a look at the details of our baker position - it could be for you!

We're excited to have you, Stroud - let's fill your town with home baked cake!

The Team @ 280 Bakes

Putting 280 Bakes On The Map

25/5/2018

We really do deliver to all of Bristol - and beyond!

Here's a great little map showing the last 100 orders we had (up until last weekend). It just shows that we cover the whole of Bristol. Ain't that smart?!

280 Bakes - map of deliveries

How do we manage to cover the whole city? Well, we have a network of home bakers who are based all over the area, currently in a south Bristol village, a north Bristol village, Patchway, Lawrence Weston and Bedminster. We all bake from home and deliver - like magic!

We're always looking for more bakers to join our team; find out more here and send us an email if you're interested in applying.

The Team @ 280 Bakes

Welcome, Lucy!

29/3/2018

We'd love you to join us in welcoming our new baker, Lucy!

Lucy - new baker - 280 Bakes

Meet Lucy, our newest baker. She lives in the southern area of Bristol, so if you're ordering a cake for that part of the region, you're likely to see her lovely face on delivery.

Her favourite cake is carrot cake and she comes to us already qualified with Level 2 Food Safety - good work!

We look forward to seeing your baking, Lucy, and welcome!

The Team @ 280 Bakes

Welcome, Sue and Heidi!

23/12/2017

We've been looking for new bakers this month, and we're please to announce Heidi and Sue have joined our team. Welcome to 280 Bakes, ladies!

Heidi is a mum-of-one from Patchway in Bristol. She's originally from Hungary and learned her initial baking skills from her mum. Then, baking birthday cakes for friends and family, devouring blogs and recipe books (especially those from pastry chefs), she honed her skills and has become an accomplished cake baker.

Heidi joined 280 Bakes to allow her to bake more, as it's something she really enjoys. Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting is her favourite cake.

Sue is the second baker to join us this month. She's our most eastern Bristol baker, from the area of
Hanham. She's a keen golfer, and Sue's favourite cake is Lemon Sponge.

Sue says James Martin is one of her favourite chefs, but she inspiration from all over.

We're looking forward to seeing your cakes, guys, welcome to the team!
The Team @ 280 Bakes

Let's Get Spooked!

26/10/2017

Halloween is but five days away and we're getting ready for family fun - and it's not all about cake!

Fancy dress parties, Trick or Treating, pumpkin carving... We're doing the whole caboodle here at 280 Bakes! Let's check in with our bakers to find out what their favourite scary movies are - let us know yours too by commenting below.

Louise (280 Bakes owner) recently watched the new 'IT' movie and claims it's "the most terrifying thing" she's seen in a long time - well recommended if you like peering out from behind your sweaty hands! "I saw the original when I was too young," she says, "but I still summoned the courage to watch it again - 20 years later!"

Our Kayleigh still loves 'Hocus Pocus' - an oldie but a goodie!

Our most recent recruit, Lorna, says the 1984 classic 'Nightmare on Elm Street' isn't scary any more, but she just loves it. Another one from a childhood viewing - we were determined to have nightmares!

Baker Debbie steers clear of scary movies in general - and that seems pretty sensible to us, with two small children! - but they do confess to enjoying a night in with the "freaky yellow minions" from time to time! But, yes, Debbie, your love of 'Gremlins' counts, good one!

Have you seen these movies? What did you think?

If you need something to nibble on while you're having a scare-fest, cosy in your living room, why not order some Halloween themed cakes from us? They're available for 'standard', vegan and gluten free diets.

The Team @ 280 Bakes

280 Bakes Halloween Cupcakes