Ain’t ‘muffin’ like the real thing for Umptious
A Sheffield food company has decided to break the (cake) mould and bring their brand of muffins to the trendy snack market.
Umptious:muffins, started by business partners Louise Hall and Amanda Wild, is now flourishing thanks to help from Sheffield City Council’s enterprise programme, and has developed a unique range of savoury and sweet muffins using natural and locally sourced ingredients.
The pair, who went to college 25 years ago, have teamed up again and combined their passion for food with marketing expertise to begin their own food company.
The business is currently based in Amanda’s kitchen, in Beauchief, and is now reaching out to farmer’s markets, weddings, christenings, corporate events and meetings. Recently Umptious have been trading at Bakewell Farmer’s Market, Sheffield Food Festival and Chatsworth Food Fayre.
Louise and Amanda are also hoping to set up a city centre delivery service to city workplaces on a specific day, when they can encourage local businesses to order Umptious: Muffins favourites like goats cheese & red onion marmalade.
Louise said: “We recognised there were lots of cupcake companies in Sheffield, but we both wanted to create something a bit different.
“There was definitely a gap in the market for savoury muffins, but we wanted to create muffins that used natural ingredients. The muffins, which we make from scratch, have no artificial colourings or flavourings, are handcrafted, and because the ingredients are sourced locally in most cases, have a really low carbon footprint.
“Lots of businesses have said they would like to include our muffins at events like away days – or even just at the end of the week as a bit of a treat, so if there are any businesses out there who might be interested, we hope they get in touch.”
Amanda was quick to call on her marketing knowledge when setting up the business and was put in touch with business advisor Tony Gee from Sheffield Enterprise Agency.
Amanda said: “When it comes to the food and marketing, we know our stuff, but we were the first to admit we didn’t know everything about starting a business.
“Tony helped with things like the business plan and cash flow. He really helped us get the numbers right so that we started off with an organised, targeted and realistic approach.”
Amanda and Louise are both keen to stress one very important point about their business venture, always reminding people: “Remember – we make muffins, not cupcakes!”
Sheffield Enterprise Agency, provides Intensive Start Up Support to new business start-ups and businesses up to three years old.
Sheffield City Council’s enterprise programme is supported financially by the European Union. The programme has attracted £4.6 million investment from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of Europe’s support for the region’s economic development through the Yorkshire and Humber ERDF Programme.
For more information please visit www.sheffield.gov.uk/solutionsforbusiness
If you’d like to order some Umptious: Muffins, email hello@umptious.co.uk or visit www.umptiousmuffins.co.uk.