Sister Act
From humble beginnings baking for family and friends, twins Rachel Finch and Lauren Sinclair have transformed their passion into a thriving empire, Finch Bakery. What began as a hobby has blossomed into a beloved brand, as Ali Gudgeon discovers
Finch Bakery goodies include mouth-watering cookies, blondies, brownies, cupcakes, cake jars and school sponge cakes. I for one have been a huge fan of the delicious treats since my daughter introduced me to their bakes seven years ago. So much so, we even ordered her 18th birthday cake from Finch Bakery as we were so impressed.
With over 200,000 followers on Instagram, the Finch Bakery twins have been catapulted to sweet success since their story began. It all started with a 21st birthday cake, crafted from YouTube tutorials by Lauren in 2012. “Friends and family started asking her to make cakes,” Rachel recalls. “It was mainly a hobby until we opened our shop in 2016. We’d both had other jobs, travelled, moved to Manchester and then decided we wanted to make cakes our career.”
The early days were a whirlwind. “It was chaotic,” Rachel laughs. “We already had a customer base from growing our ‘hobby’ on social media, posting cake and cupcake pictures. Then, in 2017, our XL litre cake jars went viral on Facebook and we had queues down the street.” Back then, it was just the twins, baking, running the shop, managing social media, decorating and serving. “We used to work 18-hour days!” Now, with a team of 38, the chaos is still there, but the support system is strong.
Family plays a crucial role in the Finch Bakery success story. “Our parents both work for us in payroll, admin and accounts and our older brother is our general manager,” Rachel explains.
The Covid-19 pandemic, while challenging, became a catalyst for growth. “We had to adapt to the regulations,” Rachel says. “Our physical shop closed for over a year, which forced us to launch more products on our website. At the time, we only sold double chocolate brownies online. This completely changed our business. Our online shop is now busier than our physical shops. And we recently started posting and selling on TikTok, which has proved successful.”
Today, Finch Bakery boasts a shop in Great Harwood (a building they purchased and renovated in 2020), a kiosk in Blackburn town centre, a hut at Ewood Park for Blackburn Rovers home games and counters in Selfridges Trafford Centre and Birmingham. They also have a popular trailer, which pops up at local food festivals, sporting events, shopping centres, Christmas markets, music events and even UCLan in Preston.
“We love the thought of another shop, but pop-ups keep things interesting and offer less commitment,” Rachel explains.
Their two recipe books have been a resounding success, but for now, the twins are focusing on their existing ventures. “We’ve spoken about another book with our publisher, but it’s a huge commitment to add to our already hectic lives, juggling kids, work and everything else inbetween.”
A recent addition to their offerings is the ‘decorate and sip’ events. “It’s something we’d been thinking about for a long time,” Rachel says. “Just before Christmas, we launched our cake decorating and sip classes at a local bar. People have travelled from all over to come, which is amazing! We teach people to assemble and decorate a cake over three hours. It’s a lot of fun and the tickets sell out quickly.”
Like any business, Finch Bakery has faced its challenges. “Being twins, we mostly have the same ideas,” Rachel explains. “But we do have disagreements! A big struggle right now is ingredient prices, especially chocolate, which has tripled in the last three years. Trying to adapt can feel deflating but we love our business and we know we’ll overcome anything.”
Their most popular product? “It changes all the time,” says Rachel. “At one point, it was definitely brownies. But we’re seeing more people requesting cake jars again, which we love, as they were one of our first items.”
Despite their success, the twins remain grounded. “We get messages asking for freebies, but it doesn’t work for us,” Rachel says. “We have had a few celebrity followers who have ordered and paid full price, though.”
Rachel puts the secret to their success down to consistency and passion: “You need to genuinely love what you do to succeed long-term.” And it’s clear that Rachel and Lauren’s passion for baking, combined with their dedication and hard work, has created a recipe for sweet success.
