Jacqueline from Reaville Cupcake Bouquets in Dundonald shares an insight into her own business journey over the past two years.

Reaville Cupcake Bouquets

Jacqueline says, “At the start of lockdown, I had been running my baking business on a very part time basis from my home since July 2019 along with working part time as an Area Manager for a cosmetic company. I was not making a lot of money with cakes, and I needed my part time job to ensure I had enough money to live on.

I had seen online courses for beautiful piped flowers and knew there was a gap in the market for something like that here in Northern Ireland. As covid started to spread and we all went into lockdown I decided to put my time to effective use and I signed up for one of the courses, I couldn’t even pipe a simple swirl never mind an intricate flower, but I was determined to give it a go.

You can only eat so many cupcakes so I decided that I would practise and as I live across the road from the Ulster hospital, and I knew a few members of staff working there I would have sent my attempts over for the staff and then some to local shops and nursing homes in Dundonald.

Over the next few months, I developed my piping skills and colouring techniques until I felt confident enough to start selling these on Facebook once restrictions had lifted.

From there I went from strength to strength my business increased sales by 700% and Reaville Cupcake Bouquets on Facebook following went from 565 to 5,000 and customers could not get enough of them even traveling from Londonderry and Enniskillen. By the end of October I had been made redundant from my Area Managers role.

I even had the opportunity to make a bouquet for Nicole Kidman and her team when they were filming here in Belfast over Thanksgiving last year.

I very quickly outgrew my kitchen and in April 21 I moved into new premises in Inspire Business Park Dundonald where Reaville Cupcake Bouquets have continued to grow and have the best customers who come back repeatedly.

My Daughter helps me out from time to time when it gets busy, and she too spent hours practising at home to develop her skill. My goal for 2022 is to be able to give her a job and develop her skills further. “