It seems that more and more vegan-friendly food businesses are popping up to keep up with the growing demand for more vegan products. Elizabeth Birt spoke to Newport resident Dawn Higgs, who runs Bee Happy Bakery – a vegan friendly and gluten free bakery.

DAWN Higgs has only had Bee Happy Bakery running since August this year but the demand for her services is already very high.

Now 38, she has been baking for a total of 12 years, regularly making cakes for all sorts of events.

“At the time, I had quite a lot of requests for dairy free cakes. Not so many for vegan or gluten free at the time but a lot for dairy free,” she said.

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“I said ‘no’ at first because I thought it would be a lot more work but then I had a look into it and found it was easier than I thought it was.”

Mrs Higgs then saw that there was a market for this as when she turned vegan herself, realised there were not that many places around providing products for vegans.

In 2018, she took a break from the baking for a year but started back up again just four months ago as Bee Happy Bakery.

South Wales Argus:

Dawn Higgs at her Bee Happy Bakery stall

“I missed it a lot so have been back since August," she said. “It’s been really hard and full-on as I also work full time.”

She is also finding it easier to source vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free ingredients and is delighted that she is able to source all her ingredients locally.

Mrs Higgs had a successful stall at Newport Food Festival and has had stalls in Kingsway shopping centre that have proved popular.

She now has high hopes for her resurrected business.

“My plan is to provide existing companies with vegan cakes and bakes to add to their existing menu," she said. “It’s not to replace anything, but just to add to their current menus to give choice to vegans and people with gluten and lactose intolerance.

“It is hard and competitive as I have found quite a lot of places and people are not interested because its vegan.

“But I’m trying to get the message across that you don’t have to be vegan to enjoy my cakes.

“They taste like normal cakes.”

Aside from having her products sold by other companies, Mrs Higgs wants to eventually open a coffee shop in the future where people can sit and chat and enjoy some vegan delights.

She also would like a mobile trailer or van to go to festivals and is aiming to do several local food festivals in the coming year.

Currently Mrs Higgs bakes the products at home and takes orders via her Facebook and Instagram pages.

“I do have a minimum order and we do delivery within a 20-mile radius of Newport," she said. “My website is currently in the process of being set up and should hopefully be running early next year.

“I am also looking at packaging to be able to post some of the less delicate products that will transport well through the post but myself and my husband are doing deliveries.”