Life behind the SQUARES with Sarah Anderson
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Holidays when younger
For me those Butlins and Pontins holidays are like the pinnacle of British childhood, I think anyone who's never experienced one is missing out! It's almost like a rite of passage. There are more of these types of places popping up now - with options such as Haven, Parkdean Resorts, Hoseasons, and many more... each one seems to have something extra to offer and those traditional UK family park holidays have gone from standard seems and craft clubs to horse riding, rock climbing, paragliding, you name it, someone does it! All of the activities you would once only access elsewhere is now available on your doorstep. -
What's on locally in Essex
The six weeks summer holiday break can be so daunting for families, especially with an ever-increasing number of bills to pay that are being hiked higher than ever.
It can be difficult to find days out that fall within budget, or days out at all, with so many seeing closure over the last few years post-covid, Brexit, and bills.
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Copied products and intellectual property
To have designs and ideas clearly stolen and friendships faked and forged to get them is not the same thing. To me it showed a complete lack of respect, kindness and understanding. This affected me for quite a while - I struggled with understanding how someone could do this to someone they supposedly care about, until eventually coming to the realisation that they couldn't so in hindsight I knew it meant they never cared to begin with. -
Business Plan
What did help was the willingness to adapt, to change and adjust accordingly, and to essentially "wing it" through.
All I know is that, right now, we are doing what we want and need to do for the current circumstances we exist in. The most we do for the future is make plans for the days and weeks ahead: booking events; ordering ingredients; making, baking and creating; taking it day by day. Knowing that one day it could all come to a halt, or it could soar, we won't know until we get there.
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Travelling on a budget
Travelling is definitely one of my favourite things to do, especially now we have more freedom to do it. I share our travels across my social media pages and I'm often asked how we manage to afford to do it as regularly as we do, considering the current economic climate in this country. -
Life beyond…. Do you believe?
I can't say I was an avid over thinker when it comes to life beyond the grave a couple of years ago - I like to believe there's a sunshiney, warm, happy place for us all to go to once we're done here because that would just be the dream wouldn't it... meeting up with lost loved ones on the other side. I know that's what I would like to be the case, I'm not sure what I actually believe though. -
Family, friends and friction
In hindsight it's easy to sit back and see what could, should and would have been done differently but the truth is in the moment you just have to do what you think is best with the information you have at that time... and we can't always get it right.I've done a lot of self-reflection over the last 18 months especially, had important conversations, and made amends with people along the way, but I know realistically that so many of the relationships I had with people prior to starting Sarah's Creative Kitchen are forever changed, or obliterated completely. -
Why do we only open 2 or 3 days a week?
When I first opened the eatery, before the country came to a halt, we were open full time and I had an on-site manager to oversee everything. It wasn't long after we opened our doors for the first time that we were advised to lock down to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. -
Has the global shortage of cocoa impacted your small business?
Whilst our chocolate may cost a little more, the care and effort we put into making cannot be matched by machine. The ingredients will be similar, if not very nearly the same, but we have something in ours that you cannot get from a piece of metal - that's the love. -
Enjoy a unique chocolate making experience to celebrate your special occasion...
The intention for Sarahs Chocolate Kitchen was always to be a place of community and togetherness, and opening up for parties, introducing people to the world of chocolate making, encompasses our ethos perfectly. -
Why I set up my business.... Part 1
I craved the freedom and flexibility of being my own boss...
I signed a 5-year lease to a factory unit in Southend in November 2017, and officially moved in there the following January. The relief was amazing. We had our home back, we could expand now however we wanted, and I could share the load with others. It wasn't solely on my shoulders anymore... or so I thought!
I never expected what followed - in both the best and worst ways!
