Hucknall lockdown business needs people's help to continue its success story

The Copper Pantry started life in founder Alison Wheeldon’s kitchen after she was furloughed during lockdown.

But such has been the success of the venture, Alison is now embarking on a whole new career path.

However, as she herself says, she can’t continue to operate just out of her kitchen and now needs move the bigger, permanent home of its own.

As a result, she has started a gofundme page to raise the capitol she needs to meet the demand.

Alison said: “At the moment, we run our business from home but we need to look at expanding because we’re struggling to keep up with the demand.

"So we’re trying to raise a big of capital towards getting properly set up with rents and staff.

"Obviously, we’ve got some money in the bank and we’re in the process of trying to apply for a business loan.

"But that takes time, so my other half came up with the idea of setting up the gofundme page that feeds back into the public when they donate."

The company specialises in outdoor catering, doing afternoon teas, graze boxes and catering for parties and larger events, which it is now getting more bookings for, necessitating the need for a move to a bigger base.

Alison continued: “I started the business last August when I was on furlough from my previous job and it’s taken off from there.

"As lockdown comes to an end, people want to have more outdoor events and more people want our services.

"My kitchen is only so big and I’ve got three children as well and there’s only so much I can do from that so we need to move somewhere bigger.

"We’re hoping to remain within Hucknall whether that’s in an industrial unit or a shop.

"We’ve seen one place we like so we’re trying to go through the process of possibly applying for it, but if that isn’t successful then I’m sure there are other places in Hucknall we could go to.

"The support we’ve had from people around here has been great and the way this has taken off has been amazing and I hope it continues.”