HUNDREDS of Bolton businesses who have faced challenges during the pandemic are finding new ways to weather the storm that has been caused by the coronavirus crisis.

These include Bavarian-born baker Angelika Searle who faced a stark choice when lockdown started.

Unable to operate her artisan bakery Pretzel and Spelt as before, she made the bold decision to stock up on flour, yeast and eggs and take advantage of the baking boom as shoppers struggled to find ingredients in their supermarket.

The gamble paid off and soon Angelika’s shop on Crompton Way was experiencing unprecedented demand.

“At the very beginning of lockdown our flour provider told us there would be a shortage of flour in the shops,” explained Angelika. “I ordered some more sacks of flour and yeast and after putting it on Facebook all hell broke loose!

“We had massive queues and we were struggling to get people through the shop.”

Angelika reduced the items they sold in the shop to a number of core items such as pretzels, strudels and sourdough bread and concentrated mainly on selling flour.

“It was like coming to an East German shop during the Cold War,” she said. “There were huge queues and when people came in there was nothing on the shelves. We were used to having maybe 15 customers a day and suddenly we were having 80-100 people visiting. Any items we did make outside our core products would go in five minutes.

“When the Bolton News featured us in the newspaper business catapulted even more and we hired some extra staff to help us pack the flour and yeast.

“It has really put our shop on the map in Bolton - before lockdown no one really knew we existed and it has been hard in the two years we have been open.

“We were just scraping through every month and I never really took a salary as I was just able to cover the rent costs and the wages for my one member of staff.”

Turning a negative into a positive has enabled Angelika to keep her business going through a difficult period.

“Now the people know we are here and they are coming back,” she added. “We were taking about £40-£60 per day before coronavirus and we are now taking between £400-£600.

“In a way it has been a lucky accident but if you are a small business you are much more flexible than a large one.

“We have had to adapt and be creative. I would urge businesses to think outside the box about how you react to what have been rapidly changing circumstances.”