A charity bake sale has turned into a business idea for Sarah Jones and her partner Andy.

The couple made cheesecakes to sell at a fundraiser which went down so well their friends and colleagues encouraged them to make and sell more.

The kitchen of their Abbey Hulton home is now the hub of registered business Jones’s Cheesecakes and Bakes, which they launched at the end of 2023.

They have also launched Jones’s Kitchen, a food catering service for weddings and other celebrations. They are now able to serve hot food at events and are working with a Community Interest Company in Tunstall to help provide affordable, nutritious food for its café.

They have stalls including at Castle Artisan Market, World of Wedgwood, Port Vale Football Club and as far afield as Warrington.

The couple work on the business at weekends and in the evening and hope to reach the stage where they could work on it fulltime.

Sarah said: “This started off as a hobby but has now become much more than that. Andy still works full time in a different job, but it would be nice to get this to the stage where we can both dedicate ourselves to it.

“We still make the cheesecakes wo started with and we still make everything at home from scratch.”

Jones’s Cheesecakes and Bakes/Jones’s Kitchen has entered the Small Business of the Year categories of the University of Staffordshire Business Awards.