All the ingredients would be fresh and natural, with none of the strange additives that bulk out most mass produced cakes. Flavours would be strong, textures would be moist, and we would charge what we had to charge to get great cakes to the market.

As a restaurant owner and manager Jeanette knew the dilemma facing small catering businesses that want to supply fine quality cakes : put time and effort in to making it themselves, or buy in the same mass-produced cakes carried by their competitors.

The first step was to develop some unique recipes. We started by focussing on developing versions of classic cakes : chocolate, carrot, lemon and apple and spice. A team of friends and neighbours tasted dozens of recipes before Fresh Eric's decided on the four recipes that would be the first cakes that they would be offered commercially.

If it's affordable quality you want, check out the Fresh Eric's Classics. Classic cakes made great.

Within a few weeks of publishing their first price list Fresh Eric's Cake Co Ltd had become exclusive suppliers of cakes to a chain of twenty cafe franchises - it seemed like a vindication of the strategy.

It didn't take long before word spread along the local high street and requests began coming in for birthday cakes, wedding cakes, dinner party cakes and cakes for keeping in the fridge for when the mood takes.

Customers said things like "I stopped eating cake when I was a kid ... but then I found Fresh Eric's!" and "That carrot cake is so good it will blow your head off its hinges."

We were sure the cake manufacturers had under-estimated the willingness of average people to pay a little more for really good cake, and it seems we were right!

It was clear that Fresh Eric's Cake Co was on to something. We decided to develop a gourmet line of cakes especially for retail. Too expensive for most caterers, the gourmet line allows the Fresh Eric's team to splurge on expensive ingredients and get creative. If it's something really special you want, take a look at the gourmet line.