Honeybuns was started by Emma Goss-Custard in 1998. When Emma was a student and needed extra income she took to making cakes in her student kitchen in Oxford and delivering them to cafes and shops in the local area by bicycle. Now based in rural Dorset, Honeybuns is an expanding and exciting company with eco-friendly ethics, wheat, gluten and dairy free goodies and a few rescue animals.
Tell us about your full range of goodies and which ones are suitable for the dairy intolerant.
The dairy free ones are: Amondi. Inspired by Italian amaretti biscuits with a hazelnut, almond and orange flavour.
Scrumdiddleyumptious. An award-winning lemon and ginger creation.
Moosh Bar. An innovative chocolate, polenta and mint taste explosion.
All other products are wheat free and most are gluten free. These include the Milk Chocolate Brownie, the Heathcliffe Brownie, the Congo Bar, Chocolate Caramel Shortbread, Coppice Cake, Rudolf's Reward, Snowy Hills, Almond Moon, Cranberry and Pecan Flapjack, Plain Flapjack and Bumbleo.
Why are your cakes suitable for intolerant people?
Coeliac friends started asking if I could go full-on gluten free so I did some research and started to seek out gluten free ingredient suppliers. Our cakes are baked in a wheat-free environment. All except two of our lines are wheat AND gluten free. The only gluten is found in the oats we use in the flapjacks. These are made in a segregated area. With the dairy free lines we have sourced fully guaranteed dairy free ingredients.
What is the reason behind making dairy and gluten free goodies?
I was lucky enough to have inherited some creational recipes from my Granny. She was influenced by her travels in Italy and her creations were made using polenta, ground almonds - naturally light on wheat flour. Tasty cakes made in an ethical, sustainable way has always been what we're about. The gluten and dairy free aspect was an added bonus. We want everyone to enjoy yummy, conscientiously made food.
What measures do you have to take to ensure your goods are free from potential allergens?
We are extremely conscientious about full clean-downs whenever we handle oats/dairy products and then switch to dairy free and gluten free. We are fortunate that we do not have any complicated machinery/tubes etc, to clean down, everything is truly made by hand. We have colour-coded utensils for different lines and the team wear different coloured protective clothing and work in segregated areas. Training is probably the most effective tool in avoiding any mistakes regarding cross-contamination. Our products are tested in a laboratory so that we can safely say that they are suitable for intolerance sufferers. Regular and rigorous internal and external auditing is also helpful.
What is the Honeybuns philosophy?
Have fun, love the environment and fill people's tums with the most exquisite cakes in the kingdom!
Who is your average customer?
Our average customer isn't necessarily drawn by the allergen aspects. Most people know a good cake when they've nibbled one! 'Honeybunners' tend to seek us out for taste, hand-made quality, sustainable business practices, our strong eco credentials, our Bee Shack Cafe and our love of all things lovely and quirky from our packaging to our rescue animals.
Where can Dairy Free Please! visitors buy your products?
From September you will be able to buy direct from ourselves at www.honeybuns.co.uk. Until then, you can find us in John Lewis coffee shops, cafes, delis and other shops all over the UK.
What's your biggest achievement so far?
Our biggest achievement so far is to have gotten so many brilliant customers! Waitrose, John Lewis, Leon Restaurants, Fortnums and we're still keeping it real! I think we come across as a genuine little gem of a company - it's not about the money with us.
Where do you see Honeybuns in ten years time?
We have lots of product development ideas in the pipeline including our refined sugar-free lines and a kiddies range. We also want to have built an eco-friendly bakery and education centre in our five acres of loveliness.
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