Over the last two weeks I’ve been on a foodie voyage across Leeds, as I’ve strived to prove why I’m the best person to tell the story of Western Australia’s food and drink experiences as its Taste Master. I’ve been overwhelmed by the generosity of the people I’ve met on my journey, people who have given me their precious time to share inspiring stories of how they contribute to Leeds’ rich and vibrant food scene. People like Dave and Steph at The Sunshine Bakery.
A small café in Chapel Allerton with a big following, I’ve been aware of The Sunshine Bakery for some time purely by the amazing word of mouth that it generates, both on twitter and in the ‘real world’. Over a cup of tea this bank holiday, I met its owners Dave and Steph to chat about what makes The Sunshine Bakery so special.
Meet Dave and Steph
A trained pastry chef who learnt his trade as a chef at Marco Pierre White’s London restaurants, Dave fulfilled his long-held dream of having his own shop when he opened The Sunshine Bakery three and a half years ago. Refreshingly, Dave is not motivated by getting rich or creating an empire of restaurants, but by putting his heart and soul into creating something truly unique that he can be proud of. If you’ve ever been to the Bakery, you’ll agree with me that Dave has definitely accomplished this mission.
Dave has recently been joined by Steph, who has a Masters in International Business and a background in the natural health industry. A true believer in natural remedies, Steph’s grounding in management and the health industry eventually led her to work at the Bakery. Steph loves working with Dave and after a year it felt like the natural place for her to stay and progress, so she now part owns the Bakery, working with Dave to manage all aspects of the business.
It started with a cupcake…
After beginning life as a cupcake shop, The Sunshine Bakery is now synonymous with Dave’s amazing, hand-crafted cupcakes. But there’s more to The Sunshine Bakery than cupcakes. As a trained pastry chef Dave naturally has a real affinity with deserts, but over time the Bakery has diversified to become a café, restaurant, burger club and general cornerstone of the Chapel Allerton (and Leeds) community. Radiating passion and energy, Dave and Steph lead the Bakery with a strong, determined and clear ethos that makes it decidedly different from the majority of other offerings in Leeds.
Retaining skills
Dave learnt his craft at Marco Pierre White’s restaurants in London, which he likened to attending school as well as working in a professional kitchen. Dave makes everything from scratch at the Bakery and is extremely passionate about retaining the skills that he believes are such an important part of Britain’s heritage, because as he puts it, “If you don’t keep traditional skills going, they’re gone, there’s no one to pass them to and they won’t come back”. Dave always passes his skills onto whoever he works with, and is currently training an apprentice at The Sunshine Bakery who’s completing an NVQ. “A good chef never has secrets”, Dave said, feeling that it’s his duty to pass his skills on because this is exactly how he learnt – by someone passing their skills onto him.
Reconnecting with food
Crusaders for ‘real food’, The Sunshine Bakery is dedicated to serving good, home-made food that’s free from chemicals and additives. Steph is particularly passionate about this concept, and spoke about helping people to reconnect with food so that they are eating with their body and motivated by what they enjoy, rather than eating with their mind and what they think they should be eating. A strong believer that food doesn’t have to be complicated, Steph said that some of the simplest combinations created by Dave for the Bakery, like pea and basil soup, have the most amazing flavours which she puts down to simple, quality and nutritious ingredients free from additives.
‘Spreading the hustle’
‘Spreading the hustle’ is a simple philosophy passed onto Dave by a friend in the music industry in London, a philosophy that The Sunshine Bakery lives by. Simply put, it means that by doing people favours, you attract favours yourself. Having a support network is fundamental to surviving as a business, and so this philosophy permeates through everything that Dave and Steph do. Committed to supporting the local community, they make sure that nothing they use comes from more than five miles away and they mainly deal with people rather than firms, from home producers to people with their own businesses.
In the spirit of ‘spreading the hustle’, Dave and Steph spoke a lot about the collaborative work that they do through the Bakery. They run a regular burger club in conjunction with Further North in Chapel Allerton, which struck me as a genius example of mutually beneficial collaboration. The Sunshine Bakery doesn’t have a drinks license and Further North doesn’t have a kitchen, so the two come together for a weekly Sunday burger club, where patrons can either eat their burgers at The Sunshine Bakery, take them away, or order them at Further North and The Sunshine Bakery will bring them to you so you can enjoy them with a beer. This collaboration works so well that the two venues are planning similar initiatives for the future, starting with a Friday night Belgian beer, chips and mussels night in the same vein.
Being unique
The Sunshine Bakery is really unique, and I don’t think I’ve experienced anything quite like it in Leeds before. Dave and Steph are keen to keep it this way, with a happy vibe that instantly transports you to somewhere else when you enter. I loved Dave’s belief that cafés should be little havens, with character, atmosphere and a theme that creates a space where people can relax, forgetting all about their busy lives. And this is the real beauty of independents. People put their character, heart and soul into places like The Sunshine Bakery, so that you end up getting a part of that person. That’s what makes them unique.
I have nothing but admiration and respect for Dave and Steph, two people who are passionately pursuing what they love to do, sharing their skills and working with their community. A truly inspiring approach, I left The Sunshine Bakery feeling invigorated and incredibly proud to be a part of a city whose communities welcome ventures like this. Find out more about The Sunshine Bakery on their website and facebook page, or you can follow them on twitter.