Beurre, Bake Off and Building a Business
He was a finalist on Bake Off: The Professionals and built his reputation as pastry chef at a Fylde Coast institution. Yet although patisserie was second nature to Rafael Perussi, building a business was something entirely new. Blackpool Growth Business Academy helped him turn Beurre into an immediate sensation.
Rafael (Raf) Perussi doesn’t ‘bake cakes’. A master pâtissier, his authentic French confections are delicious works of art. After training at the legendary Le Cordon Bleu and working across some of London’s top restaurants, Raf headed north, where he was pastry chef at The Villa in Wrea Green. Then, in 2023, he and teammate Andy Harwood made the final of Channel 4’s Bake Off: The Professionals. Raf was having ‘a moment’ and it was something he realised he needed to capitalise on.
“Pastry chefs are increasingly becoming a valuable luxury that many restaurants strive to afford,” he explains, “so after Bake Off I said to Connor [business partner Connor Westbrook], “I think it's now or never. We don’t have any patisseries around us – let’s open one.”
Identifying a gap in the market is one thing. But Raf’s skillset was patisserie, Connor’s was in electrical engineering. Neither had run a business before.
Baking a business
They began developing their business plan and conducting market research, but they realised they needed help. Their enquiries led them to the Blackpool Growth Business Academy, driven by Blackpool Council and with funded support from the UK Government's Shared Prosperity Fund.
With the Academy’s John Townsend as their guide and mentor, Raf and Connor spent the next 12 months developing their proposition. Business planning, financial forecasting, funding options, marketing and social media: all were explored via workshops and 1-2-1 support.
“John supported us through the whole process, because we really were starting from scratch,” says Raf. “We had our own ideas of what needed to be done, how and when, but having John as our guide was so important.”
Together, Raf, Connor and John addressed each business challenge and explored ways of overcoming them.
“There was sourcing, leasing and insuring the shop,” says Raf. “There was lift installation, then sourcing and funding the equipment. High quality patisserie requires high quality Italian, Swiss or French chocolate cabinets, macaron cabinets, ovens, provers, blast chillers and more, so we needed to navigate how to import those, what duties may be payable and whether we needed import numbers or licenses.”
Connor’s electrical installation experience on large commercial projects like The Shard meant rewiring the shop was simple and Raf and Connor handled the plumbing and decorating themselves to control overheads, but it was practically the only aspect of the project that did not entail a significant learning curve.
Macaron-economics
Managing a patisserie requires far more than ‘just’ baking. “In everything I’ve done up until now it’s been a case of sourcing great ingredients and making something wonderful,” says Raf.
“Now, I have to have a clear understanding of my costs and margins. I have to understand my supply chain. From chocolate to flour, everything has increased in price, so you have to balance these competing priorities of using wonderful seasonal ingredients and creating something incredible, while also staying in control of costs and making sure there’s profit in what we do.
“Being able to sit down with John and discuss these areas has been invaluable.”
Pricing products at a level which fairly reflects the skill and ingredients in each one (and which the local market will accept) hasn’t been the only thing Raf and Connor have addressed with John.
“There’s recruiting, wages, health and safety, accounts, customer service, and allergens. We’ve spoken about contracts, pensions, the responsibilities we have as an employer, the regulations we need to comply with. John has been there to help us with all of that. It’s been intense. It’s exactly as John said when we first met: I’m not a pastry chef any more. I’m a business owner with the skills of a pastry chef.”
Proving a case for funding
Of all the support offered by the Blackpool Growth Business Academy, perhaps the most important was funding signposting.
“We invested a lot of our own money,” says Connor. “And the academy also provided us with vital support and directed us towards the government funding opportunities available.”
Since launching their Fylde Coast shop, Beurre has proved an enormous success. Initial projections which saw the business planning to recruit one member of staff by the end of year one have already had to be revised and revised again. There’s now a staff of nine and Connor has joined the business full time.
“We really didn't expect it to be as busy as it has been,” explains Connor. “The response from the community – not just from customers but from other local businesses we’ve built relationships with – has been amazing.”
“To have this source of support fully funded was incredible.”
Raf and Connor are now exploring diversification options such as events and wholesaling with local partners. They plan to reaffirm their strategy with the Blackpool Growth Business Academy to ensure alignment and accuracy.
“They're fantastic business advisors and they're willing to give up their time to talk you through everything step by step,” says Raf. “I think it’s so important to use that resource. I’m not saying that we wouldn’t have got to where we are now without the support, but it would have taken longer, it would have been harder and it would have cost us a lot of money.
“To have this source of support fully funded was incredible. To anyone launching or scaling a business, I’d say reach out to them and ask as many questions as you can.”
