Looking after Sarah Nelson's legacy

As they travel the picturesque road from Windermere to Grasmere Gingerbread, the business their family has run for over 50 years, the car is abuzz with ideas for how they can take the company forward and build on its already worldwide reputation.

“We’ll literally be talking to each other the whole way and we’ll be fizzing off each other,” says Joanne.

In fact, they are so overflowing with ideas that other members of the family have tried - maybe not entirely successfully - to ban them from talking about business at the dinner table.

It is unsurprising that gingerbread plays such a massive part in their lives, given that they have both grown up with the smell of baking in the air.

Joanne’s parents, Gerald and Margaret Wilson, were the second generation of her family to run the business, which she and husband Andrew bought from them 23 years ago.

Since then, Joanne has spearheaded its sales and marketing, while Andrew has focused on the legal and financial running of the business.

The eldest of their three children, Yasmine, began working in marketing for Grasmere Gingerbread eight years ago.

However, her involvement began much earlier when she used to accompany her parents and younger siblings to host a stall at events, all dressed in Victorian garb to reflect the period clothing of Grasmere Gingerbread’s original founder Sarah Nelson.

“We used to have to get the little ones dressed up and look after them,” remembers Yasmine.

“It was stressful, but it was so cute!”

Paying homage to Sarah Nelson, and her legacy as an inspiring and enduring example of a female Cumbrian entrepreneur, is a massive part of Grasmere Gingerbread’s brand story.

This year marks 170 years since Sarah began the business in Church Cottage, next to St Oswald’s Church.

It still has its shop in Church Cottage today, which is often recognisable by the queues of people pouring out of the door, all hungry for a taste of gingerbread.

When in-Cumbria paid the company a visit, Joanne had just returned from laying flowers on Sarah’s grave in the churchyard to mark the anniversary of her distant predecessor’s death.

“It’s a beautiful business because it’s in a very beautiful location but what makes the story beautiful is the blood, sweat and tears Sarah put into it and all the hard work and passion from our family as well,” says Yasmine.

Joanne’s parents bought it in 1968 and she grew up in the family home across the road from the shop, which is now used as office space.

She had a career working for organisations including Mountain Goat, South Lakeland District Council, Cumbria Tourism, Northumbria Tourist Board and Sunderland University before she and Andrew bought the business from her parents.

Today it employs 30 staff and expanded by opening a second shop in Hawkshead last summer.

In addition to its own gingerbread it also sells 160 other products in its online shop - mainly food and gifts - with the majority made locally. Of those around 70 per cent are sold under the Sarah Nelson brand umbrella.

"It's about looking after the brand and looking after Sarah Nelson's legacy,” says Joanne.

“It’s important to remember that. She worked for necessity to keep a roof over her head.

“Now we are providing for quite a lot of families and it's nice that we're so busy and that we've got all these people working full time all year round.”

Since Joanne and Andrew took over, the business has withstood its fair share of crises, including foot and mouth in 2001, Storm Desmond in 2015 and most recently Covid.

The hard times have only prompted Grasmere Gingerbread to work harder and emerge stronger.  Storm Desmond not only flooded the business’ warehouse in Kendal but also caused the closure of the A591 between Grasmere and Keswick for six months, severely affecting footfall in its shop. In response, the family went into marketing overdrive, organising pop-up shops and also promoting themselves to tour operators to ensure a good flow of visitors when the road eventually did reopen.

When they were forced to close their premises by the pandemic in 2020 they pivoted to focus on e-commerce. “E-commerce was the only way of keeping sales coming in,” says Yasmine. “That growth in two years should have happened naturally over five.”

They used the pandemic as an opportunity to streamline the mail order operation, as well as carrying out renovations in the shop and were able to take on more employees despite disruption to the tourist trade.

“We emptied the building and we did a refit. It was scary, but we wanted to take the opportunity to invest and use the time,” says Joanne.

Although all three of Joanne and Andrew’s children have worked in the business, Yasmine is the only one to have taken on a full-time role. Her younger sister Eden Rose is now working as a singer and actress in London, while brother Eamont is also in London studying sports coaching.

"I think it's good to be brought up in a business and it gives you that business head,” says Yasmine.  “Because of the passion and the emotion there's not a lot of switch off time. Your world revolves around that business, because that's the livelihood.”

Over the last eight years, Yasmine has worked across marketing, events, ecommerce and social media promotion.  It is a testament to how busy her job has been that parts of it - sales and merchandising, social media and sales ambassador  - are now overseen by three dedicated members of staff, with Yasmine working as marketing manager.

“Because Yasmine works alongside me she works a bit like me as well,” says Joanne.

“She’s demanding and she works really hard. If you want to get somewhere in life you don’t clock off at five o’clock and you don’t take lunch or anything like that and that’s my work ethic.”

“You must never be complacent and we never take it for granted that a customer is going to walk through the door. You need to keep working at it,” says Yasmine.

The team’s hard work, combined with the Lake District’s status as a global tourist destination, has turned Grasmere Gingerbread into a world-renowned brand, helped in no small way by the business’ appearances in the media and on TV.

“It’s all because of the story of the business and the passion behind it,” says Joanne.

“We’ve put our all into this business.” However, long-term health problems now mean that Joanne is having to take a step back. Yasmine is also planning to seek new challenges and find a replacement for her position.

"We've had such good times together and laughed and joked beyond belief," says Joanne.

“It’s taken me about two or three years to come to terms with stepping back because I’ve got so many aspirations and hopes and dreams.

“The team here are really passionate and so I want someone to come in and put their arms around them and build on what we’ve done.”

Although Yasmine, 28, is currently considering her options for her future career, her CV and experience from the family business are bound to stand her in good stead.

"We've gone through a real journey and I'm really proud of that, but it's ready for its next peak and some fresh energy coming in,” says Yasmine.