CASE STUDIES

• Hi-T's
• Skinner's Brewery
• The Cornish Patisserie

REPORTS

Food and drink

Overview
Hi-T's fudge is the brainchild of Tina Allwork and Helen Eastwood; great friends who met at the school gates in London where they both used to live. They toyed with the idea of opening a café as they both enjoy baking, however, this would have meant high overheads so they started selling cakes to a local museum instead. Whilst experimenting with recipes to stop their children eating so many bought sweets, Tina made the first batch of fudge, this was very successful, everyone loved it and very quickly both Tina and Helen practiced with different ingredients to produce the varieties and flavours which are now available on their website. The business became real with the help of Helen's husband who designed the website and the packaging, and after talking to a business consultant in the food industry; Hi-T's did the Speciality and Fine Food show at Olympia.
However things changed when in December 2006, Helen and her family moved to Cornwall in search of a change in lifestyle for their family.
Helen explains: "It has always been our dream to live in Cornwall, and to begin with I thought that one more fudge business in Cornwall may not work. Tina however was very keen that the business should work and that it could work from two different parts of the country. My husband has moved his graphic design business down here and so he was working and I did need to do something. After tentatively getting the Hi-T's name out there I have found quite a lot of success as no one makes fudge like we do and people down here really do like fudge!"
Earlier this year they entered the Great Taste Awards 2007, the traditional velvet fudge won 3 gold stars and the strawberry and cream fudge won 1 gold star. Hi-T's traditional velvet fudge also won Best of the South East, Reserve Best English Speciality, Reserve Best British speciality and Reserve supreme champion.
Tina Explains: "We fell into the South East category because at the time the business still had a London address, however the business has now been moved officially to Cornwall as I have moved down to Devon. So next year we hope to win Best of the South West". The result of the awards is that the orders have come flocking in. The web business has become extremely active and retailers across the country have been ordering Hi-T's fudge.
Cornwall is an ideal location for the business. The county's commitment to good quality and fresh produce has meant that Hi-T's fudge has been actively welcomed. The business supplies to its local shops and farmers markets and hopes to exhibit at the county's many food fairs.
Commenting on the move to Cornwall Helen added: "For both Jon and I to be able to run our businesses from home has been fantastic. Previously Jon had a dreadful commute. We now have more quality time together as a family, despite spending a significant amount of time making fudge. The schools in the area are really good and our children are so happy having moved here - they are loving the access to a more outdoors-led lifestyle."

Clients
In addition to its online business, Hi-T's has supplied fudge to the Thistle hotel, River Cottage stores, The farm shop at Atlantic Village all in Devon as well as a number shops nationwide. Hi-T's fudge has also been included in Hampers produced by Delicious magazine and they are currently in talks with Sainsburys about supplying to a select number of their stores.

Support
Having never run a business before, Helen and Tina are looking forward to receiving support from Enterprise Tamar, where they have access to a business mentor who can assist as advise with their plans for business growth. In addition Cornwall Pure Business is providing support with a premises search for when the business expands.