'It was just a bit of fun!': Baker in 'free cake' storm reveals business is booming after run-in with Corrie star
5 August 2023, 11:16
A baker who refused to make Catherine Tyldesley 100 cakes in exchange for ‘exposure’ has revealed business is booming after ‘cakegate’.
Rebecca Severs, from Keighley in Yorkshire, sells cakes and provides baking classes through her bakery, which she founded seven years ago.
Now the baker has revealed her business, The Three Birds Bakery, has been inundated with demand after she called out a company for requesting 100 free cakes for a celebrity birthday party in exchange for “exposure”.
Posting the email exchanges online, Rebecca’s post went viral and attracted the support of hundreds - much to her surprise.
“I don't have a huge social media following, so I thought it would just be a bit of fun,” she said.
The mum-of-three was shocked to find the sudden surge in demand that followed, with customers queuing outside the door of her small business, her phone ringing off the hook and staff having to work into the early hours of the morning to meet demand.
Rebecca started baking as a toddler alongside her mum and late aunt, who inspired her love of cake decorating.
“It was always the dream to open a shop in Keighley,” she told the Daily Mirror.
Initially she was so keen to get her feet off the ground and working from her family kitchen, she realised she wasn’t charging enough to make a profit.
“I remember working it out after one Christmas — I made £2 an hour — and thinking, why am I doing this? It's so stressful and it's so time-consuming but I'm not really making a proper wage.”
But after delays caused by the pandemic and other life events, she finally opened her bakery in May this year.
“It's gone better than I could ever have hoped,” she continued.
“We've already had to recruit more staff, and we've had brilliant support from the local community. Keighley is a town full of friendly, supportive and close-knit people.”
But it’s precisely because of Rebecca’s hard work that she was so affronted by the email.
“It's important to be transparent,” she said.
Women “should not feel guilty about charging for their work and earning money” she added.
Party planner Nvrlnd asked Ms Severs for more than 100 free cakes - a birthday cake for the star, a smaller cake for her husband, and 100 cupcakes.
The theme of the party is "camp as t*ts”, the company said in their email.
They offered no payment other than exposure, saying that "payment would be made in the form of promotion on their socials with over 700k followers", as well as being covered in a celebrity magazine.
"The party has a guest lists [sic] full of celebrities and industry from tv / film and music, so loads of work would come from it," the publicist added. The baker turned the offer down, saying: "I'm so sorry to hear that your client has fallen on such hard times that they can't afford to pay small businesses for their services."
"Unfortunately, as my mortgage provider doesn't take payment 'in the form of promotion on their socials', and my staff can't feed their kids with exposure on Instagram, I'll have to decline your very generous offer."
Ms Severs later shared screenshots of the exchange on Facebook, writing: "This poor celebrity apparently can't afford to pay people for their products and services. Spare a thought! What happened to women supporting women."
After the actress was later revealed as Corrie star Catherine Tyldesley, she hit back at the accusations.
“Utterly bizarre. I don't really know what to say. I mean I hope the cake lady got the exposure she was craving.
“Cake gate! WHAT!
“So I had no idea those emails were being sent. I'm not working with the lovely Ok magazine on anything that I'm aware of and NVRLND are an amazing company.
“They've supplied me with performers in the past. They're insane and they've been completely misrepresented in this matter.”
Ms Severs later said the bakery had been threatened with legal action for the post.
On Tuesday Three Little Birds said: “We are getting a massive amount of phone calls, emails and messages as a result of the media coverage of the news story that is us refusing to work for [heart] emojis."
Rebecca addressed the incident again on Thursday, as she posted to her social media: “I wish I had the time to reply to all your amazing messages one by one. But I totally don't," she said.
"But please know that know how much solidarity is out there for small business is incredible and every message of support means a lot!"
