Twins who own a popular, mouth-watering bakery have shared their sweet success so far and business plans for the future.
Rachel Finch and Lauren Sinclair opened Finch Bakery in Queen Street, Great Harwood, when they found a passion for cooking tasty treats after baking their own 21st birthday cake.
The twins and business partners learned the art of baking through YouTube tutorials, and decided to take their hobby even further after friends and family started asking the pair to bake for them.
Fast forward ten years, the pair recently celebrated their 31st birthday and are successful business owners with a huge following on social media, as well as having a pop-up shop venture into Harvey Nichols in Manchester.
Lauren said: “We don’t feel like it’s a job really. I just love being creative and making up new recipes and thinking of new ideas.”
Whilst Covid negatively impacted many businesses, the lockdown helped their bakery grow, particularly online.
“I don’t really want to say it was a positive," Lauren said, "but weirdly Covid did help us because all the shops were shut and everyone was at home so people didn’t have anything to spend their money on.
“We hadn’t really been online before Covid so we just kind of angled up the online presence and it just exploded over lockdown because people weren’t spending the money on anything else. We gained a huge following.”
Finch Bakery boasts 173,000 followers on Instagram, even boasting a coveted 'blue tick' on the social media site, plus 96,000 followers on Facebook.
The business sees new customers every day, Rachel said, but also has a strong regular customer base where “a couple of the girls who used to come in the Great Harwood shop all the time now work for us which is great.”
Rachel shared that a blast from the past has become the latest trend in the bakery world.
“Everyone’s going back to those school cakes, which is those sponge cakes with water icing and sprinkles on top.
"I think it’s because buttercream has been on everything for quite a while it’s just gone back to that even though it’s really simple.”
Despite the wonderful and creative recipes that the twins create on a regular, like Biscoff or caramel chip blondies, or their Kinder brownie bars that look like heaven in box, their go-to personal favourites are surprisingly the classics.
“We love a simple vanilla sponge to be honest,” Rachel added. “We love the new things too, but you can’t beat the plain stuff.”
There’s a diverse array of cookies, cakes, scones, brownies and more to choose from so customers can find the perfect treat for them or a gift for someone else.
The entrepreneurial sisters are set to branch out into wholesale in the very near future, stocking cafes and restaurants across the UK, so stay on the lookout because their treats are too good to resist.
You can follow Finch Bakery on Instagram and order online at their website, while the Great Harwood store is open Tuesday to Saturday.
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