Features / Popular cake fridge forced to consider increasing prices as costs soar
The cost of chocolate is one particular concern for the Picnic Press, which is located in the South Mainland
IT HAS provided a sweet stop-off for folk going to and from Shetland’s South Mainland since opening a few years ago.
But the Picnic Press cake fridge just south of Levenwick may have to up its prices this year as its owner faces huge hikes in the cost of some ingredients – with so-called “chocflation” a factor.
Jillian Mouat, who bakes items for the fridge from her home, said she has tried hard to keep her prices the same since opening – but it is reaching a point where something has to give.
She used the example of a recent order for four 10kg bags of high quality chocolate, which cost £685.
However this time last year she would have received nearly double the quantity for the same price.
It appears the price of cocoa has shot up, with a number of factors blamed. A report in the Guardian from last year suggested everything from tree disease and poor weather to increased demand and the cost of fertiliser has made chocolate more expensive.
Mouat started the Picnic Press in 2022 in a bid to put something back into the community.
Working at Sumburgh Airport meant she has not had to worry too much about profit margins, but the rising costs means she is reluctantly set to increase prices for the first time.
Mouat said she has always wanted to use good quality ingredients, to enhance the customer experience.
She bought 60kg or 70kg of chocolate roughly this time last year, but when she went to get more in the autumn the cost had doubled.
“It had gone from 93 pounds for ten kilos, and then it was about £180 for a bag,” Mouat said.
“I’ve kept my prices the same since I opened in 2022, but I think certainly going on the chocolate stuff, I’m probably going to have to look at upping my prices this year, which I’m really no wanting to.
“There is a big demand for homebaking in Shetland, and I hope that increasing prices won’t put folk off that.”
The Picnic Press is one of many cake fridges in Shetland but Mouat said for her it is has always been about more than just selling homebakes.
The mother of two has begun hosting a family-friendly end of season supper dance in Bigton, while next to the cake fridge is also a map of potential picnic spots in the South Mainland.
She has also placed an emphasis on making sure there are goodies available for folk with gluten or dairy allergies or preferences.
“I just think it must be isolating enough going out for food having allergies with having to always have something different to everybody else,” Mouat said.
She added that someone had written in her visitor’s book once that it was the first time their children, who had allergies, had chosen from a cake fridge.
“That’s a lot of the reason why I started the press,” Mouat said. “The motivation for me to do it was very much to bring something to the communities.
“It wasn’t about ‘oh I love baking, I want to sell my cakes’. It was about how my baking could enhance the community.”
So what has been the most popular item? The Dunrossness primary chocolate crunch, she said, which is based off an old recipe.
“Yun’s the recipe from when Stewart my husband was at school,” Mouat said, adding that the mint slice is also a favourite.
The Picnic Press goodies have also been stocked in the Sumburgh Head lighthouse, as well as the Sound Service Station in Lerwick.
It appears the baking talents have run in the family, with her grandparents a dab hand.
One side of her grandparents owned the Sandwick bakeshop before they retired, so Mouat spent a lot of her time in the holidays helping out.
“It’s something that I think is in the genes,” Mouat added. “But I love science, and baking is a very fun form of science.
“There’s a lot of trial and error, especially when I took on the press. There was a lot of experimenting going on with the depth of the bakes, and what would work.”
She added that her love of baking is rubbing off on her two bairns too – who, of course, get to enjoy plenty of taste tests, as does her husband.
“I think making things is part of our Shetland culture and our heritage,” Mouat said.
“That’s why I really like having the local ingredients in there and also some of the local recipes.”
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