How baking side hustle has risen into life's work for constantly innovating bay couple

WHEN Ryan Bolton and Charlie Deeley started selling bakes on the side to fund a backpacking trip, they didn't imagine it would lead to a thriving high street bakery business with a national postal following.

- by LEWIS CLARKE

The story begins in Torquay, where Ryan, then a chef in fine dining, and Charlie, a commercial manager at Sainsbury's with a business degree, decided to spend their weekends baking.

"We started selling bakes on the side to earn extra money so we could save to go backpacking," Charlie explains. That modest side hustle turned into five months exploring southeast Asia - and when they returned, so did the baking.

It wasn't just about extra cash anymore. "We felt passionate about it," Ryan adds. "We loved the freedom and creativity it gave us compared to our full-time jobs."

What started as Get Cupcaked in 2010 - riding the wave of the cupcake craze - evolved naturally over time. As the couple's offerings expanded to include brownies, cookies, and cake slices, they noticed a recurring customer comment: "They're so big!"

It was a light bulb moment. Big Bakes Bakery was born.

Starting off, everything was homemade.

"We baked everything from home until we outgrew our kitchen," Charlie recalls. For a while, they rented a kitchen space from Ryan's brother before finally opening their first shop in Torquay in 2017.