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How Newmarket chef Ben Cockhill went from redundancy to booming bakery business Stellar Catering




Newmarket chef Ben Cockhill is living proof of the old adage that every cloud has a silver lining.

After facing redundancy as the country went into a first lockdown in March 2020, he set up his own bakery business which is now booming.

Ben was working at The Tack Room restaurant at the National Horseracing Museum but when he found himself out of a job, he started baking scones, celebration cakes, tarts and other treats in his home kitchen for delivery to customers while he looked for premises in which to base a new business.

The Bakery at the National Horseracing Museum - Ben Cockhill with Evi Papadopoulou, Ashley Robinson, Andrianna Boziki and Pippa Mannion. Picture by Mark Westley
The Bakery at the National Horseracing Museum - Ben Cockhill with Evi Papadopoulou, Ashley Robinson, Andrianna Boziki and Pippa Mannion. Picture by Mark Westley

Ben and his partner Stephanie Yates took on an empty unit in the grounds of the museum at Palace House and got the business, named Stellar Catering, up and running in time for when the museum was re-opened at the end of July.

Now, nearly a year on, with The Bakery flourishing, with queues out of the door for freshly baked bread, savouries and cakes and an ever-growing customer base, Ben has branched out into two new ventures.

On Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, The Bakery becomes The Waffle Hut, an innovative takeaway offering home delivery of sweet and savoury delights,

And Stellar Catering has recently invested in another project. The Tailor Trailer is an old Rice horse box which has been converted into a catering trailer which can be custom-tailored to fit the requirements of both private and public events.

As part of this month’s first birthday celebrations, The Bakery is serving up ‘Bake it Yellow’ scones, the colour of the East Anglian Air Ambulance which will be receiving a donation of half the sales.

“Who would have thought this time last year when I was selling brownies out of my kitchen at home that I would now be juggling phone calls and meetings and branching out in all directions,” said Ben.

“Our many fantastic reviews online and in store have given us the motivation to keep pushing forward, with no sign of slowing down any time soon and we would like to thank every single customer and our dedicated team.

Stellar Catering can be contacted on 07858223244 or at www.stellarcatering.co.uk.

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