For our next small business story, we met up with Jenny Mitchell, owner of Hampshire-based Wild Wren Brownies, to discover how her baking hobby evolved into a fully-fledged business offering homemade brownies made to order.
“There’s a great satisfaction when I hear such positive feedback on my brownies... they’re all made by me and I love making each and every one. ”
What's the inspiration behind your business?
I love chocolate and for years I've made brownies for when friends came over - any excuse to cook with chocolate!
Every time we would take the children out for a hot chocolate they would choose a brownie to go with it and my husband always used to say “Your brownies are so much better”. Biased I’m sure... but he gave me the confidence and that extra push to make it into a business.
The name came about as my friends from when I was at school call me Wren and where we now live, there's always a wild wren flying around by the front gate...
And what's behind the flavours and concept?
For years, I used to make plain chocolate brownies but then felt one chocolate was not enough so why not have triple chocolate!
Having a sweet tooth, I wanted to create something gooey and indulgent which would be perfect to enjoy on any occasion and make a special pudding.
I then experimented with making my own salted caramel sauce and once I got this right, I went on to create an indulgent brownie with a layer of salted caramel running through the middle.
Then one day I was talking to a friend who loves cooking with spices, which made me think of experimenting myself with spices and the combination of orange and cardamom worked so well together. The citrus tangy orange with the fragrant cardamom within a chocolate brownie was a winner.
I have lots of ideas and there is lots of experimenting going on in the kitchen - much to the delight of my family and my ‘guinea pig’ friends!
How do you use social media day to day for the business - any tips you can share?
I currently use Instagram and Facebook - it's a great way to let people know what I have to offer and for customers to communicate with me. It's instant, current and effective.
My tip is to update regularly on social media sites, post photos to attract attention and make use of the hashtags to widen your audience.
What's the best aspect of running your own business and why?
Having the freedom to choose my hours which fits around home life is important for me. When the children are at school, I get to bake with chocolate!
There's also a great satisfaction when I hear such positive feedback on my brownies... they're all made by me and I love making each and every one.
CONTACT
Wild Wren Brownies Facebook page
Follow @wildwrenbrownies
