A COUPLE who set up a side hustle while working at a hotel in Cornwall have turned it into a full-time venture – and secured a spot on a hit television drama.
Leah Fontier and Jordan Jones originally launched their business selling artisan coffee from a Piaggio Ape – a three-wheeled truck – at weekend events.
Encouraged by their success, they decided to go one step further and handed in their notice at the hotel in Fowey in May.
A cash injection in the form of a British Business Bank Start Up Loan allowed the couple to buy and renovate a larger 1957 Citroen HZ, kit it out with coffee-making facilities and a fridge, and pay for stock and pitch fees on the Camel Trail between Padstow and Wadebridge.
Trading as Glazed & Roasted and based in Bodmin, they spent the summer supplying cyclists and walkers with coffee and doughnuts from their vintage van while managing a steady stream of events bookings.
And at the end of September, they joined the BBC for the filming of the hit series, Beyond Paradise, starring Kris Marshall and Sally Bretton.
Their eye-catching van was used as a prop and dressed up as the Ten Mile Kitchen in the historic harbour at Charlestown, near St Austell.
Talking about their business journey, Leah said: “It’s scary but thrilling - the best thing we ever did. Without the loan, we would still be working full-time elsewhere - and it’s affordable to pay back.”
Start Up Loans is a government-backed scheme from the British Business Bank, available to people looking to start or grow a business in the UK.
The scheme offers unsecured loans of up to £25,000 with a fixed interest rate of six per cent, repayable over one to five years. Successful applicants also receive 12 months of free mentoring.