Sweet treat specialist Cheran’s Bakery has closed of four of its five shops across Kent due soaring input costs and overheads.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday 10 January, the company’s founder Cheran Friedman said that ever-increasing rents, rates, and utility bills as well as increased prices of butter, chocolate, flour, and eggs had made it “completely unviable” to keep all her retail outlets going.
“I’ve spent the entire two days crying and putting it into words on here is just the final heartbreak,” posted Friedman, while confirming the closure with immediate effect of her shops in Faversham, Canterbury, Maidstone, and Rochester.
“Everyone’s bills have increased significantly, yet wages haven’t. This affects every household,” she added. “The shops were thriving, but currently bills are going up each month and it makes quiet days alongside the astronomical costs of running the shops just impossible to swallow.”
Cheran’s original shop in Sittingbourne – which opened in June 2022 – is to remain open, supplied by its nearby 1,500 sq ft production site. The product range of brownies, cookies, cinnamon buns, and celebration cakes would also still be available to order via its website.
The news is a stark reminder of how quickly things can change for a craft bakery business, which had appeared very much in the ascendency a mere month ago. Plans were afoot to expand Cheran’s estate with new shops in Tunbridge Wells, Dartford, and Croydon, having already surpassed its crowdfunding target of £225k by almost a third on the Seedrs platform. It had since attracted even more backers to hit £325,482 in total investment.
The crowdfunding campaign has now been cancelled, revealed Friedman, with all amounts pledged to be returned to investors in due course.
“I had such big plans for the business this year,” she commented, “but with more bad news and no help from our government, I’ve made the really tough decision to go back to basics and thrive as a small company rather than stretch myself and the business to the absolute limits for no real gains in many aspects – other than the pure stress of worrying what the economy will be doing next.”
Without confirming a total number of job losses, Friedman noted that all shop staff would be paid in full for their work to date. The bakery owner also advised her customers to continue supporting her existing business and any other independent shops. “These small companies really need your support. The chain shops will probably survive, but the little ones won’t unless you help them,” she wrote.
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