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Marshmallow company primed for sweet success thanks to Growth Hub

Name:  Yamini Clarke
Company: Mallamour Gourmet Marshmallows

One business set to enjoy the sweet smell of success thanks to support from the Growth Hub is Mallamour, a marshmallow business based in Appleton.

Formerly named Mallow Mia, it has achieved great success since it was founded in earlier this year, supplying to businesses such as the Cheshire Smoke House in Wilmslow and Rex the Concept Store in Liverpool’s Met Quarter, as well as selling to online customers.

With the orders coming in thick and fast, owner Yamini Clarke, aged 40, sensed that her business was at a crucial juncture and turned to the Cheshire and Warrington Growth Hub for help.

Yamini explained: “I started my business small and have grown it organically. Like many start-up food and drink businesses, at the moment, I’m operating out of my own kitchen.

“However, the orders just keep on coming in, so I know that soon I will need to move to bigger premises.  However, as someone new to running my own catering business, the prospect of arranging all of this alone was daunting.”

After getting in touch with the Cheshire and Warrington Growth Hub, Yamini was introduced to advisor Frank Duckers. Frank talked Yamini through the process of sourcing and securing suitable and affordable production facilities for her business and helped her consider the effect that hiring external premises might have on her profit margin.

As increased orders would inevitably mean that Yamini would need to hire new staff, Frank also helped her explore whether hiring an apprentice might be a feasible option in the future. In order to help her prepare for this eventuality, he also discussed what tax, National Insurance and health and safety obligations she would have if she were to pursue this, and where she could receive further help and advice.

The result, says Yamini, is that she feels prepared to take her business to the next stage. She explains: “I’m at the stage where my business is really taking off, and the last thing I want is to win a big contract and find myself floundering because I haven’t got the right resources in place.

Frank at the Growth Hub helped me to understand what I need to do in order to take my business to the next level. He was a great sounding board for my ideas and also helped me to think about different ways that I can market Mallamour in order to win large contracts in the future and to put together cash flow projections.

I’ve already won a few new clients as a result of working with the Growth Hub. What’s more, I feel much more confident about what I’m doing, and where I’m going. I really can’t thank them enough.”