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She rose, fell and rose again
Claire Carr chats with bakery entrepreneur Naomi Rose.
Many of us dream of turning our backs on mundane, nine-to-five lifestyles in favour of something more exciting. For most, setting up their own business and doing something they truly love remains just that, a dream. Back in 2018, Naomi Rose decided to take the plunge and left a successful marketing career in the non-profit sector to set up her own baking business and café.
Becoming her own boss
“I’d always enjoyed baking and had fond memories of baking as a child with my nana, Elsie May. Although I was very much self-taught and hadn’t had any professional training, I had a clear vision of the sort of café I wanted to open. I felt this was enough to turn my dream into a reality.”
Having found the perfect high street premises in St. Neots in Cambridgeshire, Naomi ran a crowdfunding campaign and quickly got to work kitting out the kitchen and making the café an inviting place for people to enjoy good, honest food. “When it came to thinking of a name, there could only be one option - Elsie May’s, because my nana had also dreamed of opening her own tearoom.”
In a few short months, Elsie May’s had built up a reputation for tasty bakes, larger than life scones, hearty brunches and delicious afternoon teas. “I was always keen to champion the best local produce and all of our food was made without additives and artificial preservatives.” All of this was served up in a relaxed, friendly environment, exactly how Naomi had envisaged. Business continued to boom and she added a bar, hosting events a couple of nights a week to which local people flocked for their renowned cocktails.
Lockdown loaves
Then the pandemic hit. “I used the time to reflect on what I felt passionate about, which always came back to baking. During lockdown I got to work perfecting my breadmaking skills, as I’d never really had the time before. It’s something we’d done a bit of at Elsie May’s but lockdown gave me the opportunity to concentrate on this more. We’d started to see more demand for artisan bread, with customers quite often asking us to make them a loaf.”
As the restrictions were slowly lifted, Naomi added a bakery to the premises with the help of a successful crowdfunding campaign. “The team and I were overwhelmed by the local response. The bakery allowed us to make our own Real Bread to serve in the café and also sell loaves to people in our local community. Our white farmhouse loaf was even chosen as a category winner in the Britain’s Best Loaf awards 2022, just three months after we opened, which was a huge achievement!”
Another reinvention
As the cost-of-living crisis started to take hold, Naomi was dealt another blow. “I was working every hour possible trying to make ends meet but our overheads, along with the cost of ingredients, were continuing to spiral at a rate which was no longer sustainable. Eventually I had to make the tough decision to close Elsie May’s, something I’d dreamt about for so long and worked hard to build up from scratch. I was devastated.”
Naomi’s journey doesn’t end there, though. “After a lot of tears and some time off, I remembered exactly why I started Elsie May’s in the first place - because of my love for both baking and business.” Continuing to follow her passion, Naomi is now on a mission to help other people be successful in baking, business or both through her new venture, Baking Boss.
Passing on a passion
“I went into Elsie May’s head-first, learning on the job. It was a steep learning curve, to say the least!” Naomi is now using her knowledge and experience to help other people turn their dreams into a reality and make a success of their own food businesses. “Something I quickly came to realise is that baking is only a very small part of running a bakery business. I began looking for support on the business side of things but couldn’t find any suitable for me.” Naomi’s coaching covers the practical elements of setting up and running a successful food business, as well as the importance of wellbeing and keeping a healthy work life balance.
Naomi also runs themed, online baking courses. Some are designed to help people create showstopping bakes at home. Others are geared to people wanting to improve their skills, ready for taking the first steps towards opening their own businesses.
“I’ve had some incredible highs and some real lows on my baking journey so far. I feel lucky that every day I get to do something that I thoroughly love and help empower other people to do the same.”
Originally published in True Loaf magazine issue 58, April 2024.
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Published Friday 11 October 2024
Real Bread Campaign: The Real Bread Campaign finds and shares ways to make bread better for us, better for our communities and better for the planet. Whether your interest is local food, community-focussed small enterprises, honest labelling, therapeutic baking, or simply tasty toast, everyone is invited to become a Campaign supporter.