Sukh Chamdal Cake Box CEO

Source: Cake Box

Sukh Chamdal, Cake Box CEO

Sukh Chamdal, chief executive of Cake Box, hailed a ‘strong set of results’ as the company posted a 50.7% increase in revenue for the 12 months up to April 2022.

Sales totalled £33m for the period, compared with £21.9m for the previous year. Online sales were up 41% and gross profit stood at £15.8m – a rise of 45% on 2021’s £10.9m.

The celebration cake specialist also reported a ‘strong balance sheet’ with £6.6m cash at the end of the period, compared with £5.1m for the previous year.

“Despite a challenging economic and trading environment, we have delivered yet another strong set of results and continue to trade robustly post period end,” said CEO Chamdal.

“I founded Cake Box at the height of the financial crisis in 2008. These are difficult times for everyone, but as we’ve seen before, the group’s unique customer and franchisee proposition remains both exciting and enticing,” he added.

The franchise side of the business saw 31 new store openings during the financial year to bring the total to 185, recording like-for-like sales growth of 12%. Franchise total turnover was up 55% to £66m, compared with £42.7m for 2021, while franchise online sales totalled £13.3m – a rise of 41% against the previous year’s £9.4m.

The period also saw continued expansion of Cake Box’s kiosk offering, with 10 supermarket kiosks added to give a total of 15, and the number of shopping mall kiosks brought up to 20 by the addition of four during the year.

The company’s operations were further boosted by the opening of a new warehouse in Enfield in December 2021, intended to support ongoing expansion. The company is targeting 24 new store openings for the coming year and expects to open its 200th store in the autumn, in line with its stated ambition of growing its estate to 250 stores.

“Our people have proven their resilience and commitment through tough times and now is the time for the Cake Box family of extraordinary entrepreneurs to shine, with support from a bigger, better and more experienced group function,” said Chamdal.

“The Cake Box family is bigger and more geographically diverse than ever before, and we are serving more customers than ever, with a keen focus on value for money. As I said at the height of the Covid pandemic, there will still be birthdays, marriages and countless moments in our lives to celebrate with a slice of our delicious cake,” the CEO added.