05/06/2026
£4.5 for a brownie?!?
£9.5 for a cake?!
I get these reactions everyday…
And honestly, I think it’s time for a small business finance lesson.
Every month, before I sell a single coffee or cake, I have fixed costs just to unlock the doors:
• £705 rent (it was £1,200/month for our first 3 months)
• £90 insurance
• £45 card processing fees
• £20 card terminal rental
• £22 loyalty app subscription
That’s nearly £900 every month before ingredients, electricity, fuel, maintenance or paying ourselves.
Our water bill doubled
Our electricity and gas doubled also
Then come the ingredients.
£120 for 10kg of chocolate.
£37 per kg of coffee beans.
Fresh fruit.
Fresh double cream.
Real butter.
Real eggs.
Fresh milk.
Oat milk.
Syrups.
We go through around 100 eggs every week.
Our brownies contain 400g of Belgian chocolate per tray. That’s more than 40g of chocolate per brownie
Our trompe l’oeil cakes take four days from start to finish.
Four days.
Making fillings.
Freezing layers.
Creating inserts.
Preparing glazes.
Coating each fruit by hand.
Just coating 10 trompe l’oeil fruits takes around an hour and uses roughly 500g of chocolate and 200g of cocoa butter.
Then there are all the things people never think about:
Coffee machine servicing.
PAT testing.
Water filters.
Cleaning products.
Packaging.
Repairs.
Equipment replacement.
And that’s assuming nothing breaks.
Because when something breaks, there is no head office paying for it.
It’s just us.
Many people don’t know this, but I also work night shifts with my old job so I can keep building this business.
Most weeks I work seven days a week and almost every waking hour is spent working.
So when somebody looks at a brownie made with real butter, real eggs, premium Belgian chocolate and quality ingredients and says:
“£4 for a brownie?!”
It genuinely hurts a little.
Not because of the money.
Because all they see is the finished product.
They don’t see the years of learning.
They don’t see the failed batches.
They don’t see the 4am starts.
They don’t see the stress.
They don’t see my mum working endless hours beside me to help make this dream happen.
And maybe that’s why comments like that sting.
I want to be clear:
I’m not writing this to complain. I know this is how business works and
I love our customers.
We have hundreds of wonderful people who support us every week, who understand the work involved and who choose to support a small local business. Without them, we wouldn’t still be here.
I also completely understand that our products aren’t within everyone’s budget.
That’s okay.
But what I cannot do is charge less without sacrificing quality.
And that’s something I’m simply not willing to do.
I’d rather close the business than sell something I’m not proud of.
Our brownies aren’t “just brownies.”
Our trompe l’oeil cakes are definitely not “just cakes.”
They are skill.
They are time.
They are craftsmanship.
They are high-quality ingredients.
They are years of experience.
People rarely question £9.50 for a cocktail that lasts ten minutes.
People don’t blink at £25 for a bottle of vodka.
People happily pay £8.50 for a frozen chicken burger.
Yet somehow a handmade dessert made over several days is considered expensive.
So next time you look at a small business price tag and feel tempted to laugh or make a comment, please think twice.
Behind that price is usually someone exhausted, worried, working far more hours than they’re paid for, and trying their absolute best to give you something special.
We’re not trying to get rich.
We’re just trying to survive while creating something we’re proud of.
And a little kindness goes a very long way.
With love,
Alex
