AN INDEPENDENT dessert company is the cream of the crop after thriving through the pandemic and opening its THIRD store after less than three years in business.
Despite the pandemic striking two months after opening its second store, Cookies and Cones has gone on to buck the trend and not only successfully opened a head office and production facility, but a third store in Rayleigh.
The company specialises in desserts, gelato and freshly baked cookie products using its own unique, extravagant recipes.
It is now trading over 1,000 per cent up year-on-year and is continuing its expansion plans to be the fastest growing, independently owned dessert company in Essex, employing more than 25 staff.
Owner Matt Davis, from Southend, said: “At the start of the pandemic it really was a sink or swim moment, it was either going to bankrupt me or go really well.
“Luckily, it was the latter, in fact being able to expand at the rate the company has during a national lockdown is something I could never have imagined.
“While many companies are closing stores and making staff redundant, I count myself very lucky to be in the opposite position.”
Matt started the business in 2018 after working for an ice cream company. He outgrew his first shop, at Clements Arcade, in Leigh, which consisted of a small team of just two employees, within eight months.
The business moved to a bigger shop at Leigh Broadway, before opening a second store in Southend, two months before the pandemic hit
The 30-year-old added: “During the pandemic we have done what most people haven’t been able to do, and created loads of new jobs within the community.
“It is great, but it was very scary at the start of the pandemic because no one knew what was going to happen.”
Team - Olivia Little, Matt Davis, Paula O’Donnell, Jasmine Brown at The Broadway branch
It has also recently set up its own online shop and is now taking this national.
The company is now sending over 150 treat boxes a week to customers throughout the UK.
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