You can’t make a cake without breaking a few eggs, so the popular adage goes. That is, however, unless you opt to go vegan, as one enterprising British cake exporter has done. It is not for ethical reasons that the Pecan Deluxe Candy Company has decided to drop animal-derived ingredients though, but to avoid incurring pricey post-Brexit fees and secure its future.
The Leeds-based manufacturer, which services well-known international brands with cakes, brownies and treats such as sprinkles, fudge, and cookie dough, said it had significantly cut Brexit-related costs by replacing eggs and dairy with plant-based alternatives.
Its newest offerings include a cookies and cream cheesecake, a hot cookie dough dessert and salted caramel cupcakes, all of which are suitable for vegans.
Unlike the versions containing butter and eggs, the reformulated products do not require an export health certificate or veterinary inspection, which has allowed the confectioner to eliminate these additional costs, and to do away with the accompanying paperwork.
Prior to the UK’s EU exit, nearly all of the firm’s business came from customers based within the bloc, with Germany and Spain among its biggest importers. But following Brexit, Pecan Deluxe experienced a downturn and had to cut staff numbers to stay afloat.
“Brexit has had a huge impact on our business,” Graham Kingston, the firm’s managing director, told trade publication The Grocer.
“Before the UK’s exit from the EU single market, 84 per cent of the business’s sales came from European customers. That figure is now around 55 per cent.”
The losses have forced Mr Kingston and his team to innovate, and overhaul their recipes. Changes include replacing butter with vegetable oils and dispensing with eggs. Since introducing the new formulas they have witnessed a huge drop in shipping, veterinary and paperwork costs, Mr Kingston said.
Shipping costs alone have plummeted by as much as 70 per cent in some cases.
The business has also attracted interest from new EU importers keen to make savings as the price of milk, butter and eggs have shot up.
“It’s a win-win situation because… EU importers are also looking to lower their costs by buying the reformulated products,” Mr Kingston said.