To Bake or Not to Bake - one question to help you work it out.
[updated on 23/4/20 to reflect new feedback on EHO]
There are a lot of conflicting opinions about whether as cake businesses, we should be delivering cakes in the midst of a global pandemic.
This is not the kind of thing any of us have experience in. We’re all beginners now, and so we can all make mistakes. We’re all trying to work out what the best way forward is for our individual businesses, and for our wellbeing as a nation.
So, we thought it would be helpful to lay out how we’ve processed the information, and the conclusions we’ve come to.
There are a bunch of legal instructions, food safety guidelines and advisory documents that have been made available by government and local authorities to help us understand the situation we’re in.
The problem is that none of them give a definitive ruling for cake makers. That means that people are left to interpret and that in turn has led to some quite diverse ideas of what is okay and what is not.
Four checkboxes to tick before you can deliver cakes
There are four authorities we’re responsible to as cake businesses (the EHO, insurance companies, the police and the government). In order to operate legally and safely, we need to make sure we’ve got approval from ALL FOUR before we can operate. If we can get a tick in each of those boxes then we’re good to go.
The EHO - Since publishing this post, we’ve been made aware by cake makers across the country of mixed messages from their EH departments. Some EHOs are advising cake business owners that the FSA guidelines mean cake makers should not be operating at all. Other EHOs are giving the go-ahead from a purely food production point of view, but are advising cake makers in writing that it's their individual responsibility to make up their own mind as to the government instructions as to what ‘essential' is. So we'd have to call that half a tick, dependent on what your local EH office has directed.
Your Insurance - our own insurance, and several other cake makers’ insurers, have said we are covered except for anything directly related to Covid-19 eg. business interruption. Do check with your own insurer but if you’re operating within the EHO safety guidelines, this generally seems to be a tick as well.
The police - our own police force and several others around the country have confirmed they would not object to someone delivering cakes within the social distancing guidelines. Do check with your own police force, but this seems to be a tick as well.
3 (or 2.5!) ticks so far what about the government?
This is where it gets a little tricky. There is no clear ruling for cake makers. Food producers are listed as essential workers, but this is in the context of provision of sustenance for the nation. In all honesty, would we ever consider ourselves frontline workers? We know it’s our passion and our whole livelihood, but hand on heart, we can’t say cake is an essential for life. It’s a luxury.
We also have the clear guidance that we should not be making non-essential travel.
So what’s essential? Mike Ashley tried to argue that keeping Sports Direct stores open and selling sports clothes was essential. After a huge public outcry they walked that decision back. It was perhaps essential for the health of his business and its employees, but not for the health of the country. That’s the point essential means essential for the country not us.
That is the real and painful wrestle we all face. It’s the global issue facing every business in this crisis. What is necessary for the country, and what we need to pay our bills and actually put food on the table.
One question to help you decide?
With all the competing voices and advice, it’s easy to lose sight of what we’re trying to achieve. The big idea. We’re all to do everything we can to stop the virus spreading and to protect our key workers. It’s shorter term pain for longer term gain. So, here’s the simple question we found really helped focus our minds:
Can we look a nurse, supermarket worker, or a bus driver in the eye and say to them it’s essential to the wellbeing of the nation that we deliver cake?
Our answer to that question was simply no. Its why we won’t personally be delivering cake.
It’s really inconvenient. It’s costing us our income. It’s incredibly frustrating. But in good conscience, we can’t. Just to be completely clear - we are not facing this decision with a nice pile of cash in the bank to make it easier. Just like you, our income evaporated this year. Cake is our full time job. It’s how we survive as a family. We had to decide based on that reality.
Is there an alternative?
We have decided to Stay Home and not deliver cake. However, reading the government guidance says that “online retail is to remain open and is encouraged”. The risks are deemed much lower for the nation. So, there are ways to obey the government guidance and still keep your business ticking over.
Some folk have started offering tutorials, online learning, or ramping up their current consultancy. That’s all absolutely in line with advice. From a baked goods perspective, it means if you can stay home and bake, you have the government’s blessing.
We still need to adhere to the EHO guidelines and will need to work out how to get your parcels delivered without going to the post office. We’ll also need to work out how to sell online and advertise…but maybe there’s a way even in the middle of the lockdown to bring some money in and keep our key workers safe.
We wish each of you all the best as you manage your businesses in the days ahead.