Member Spotlight: Scrumptious Stacks

Crumble is something of a British institution. The time-old dessert unlocks nostalgia like no other and is just as warming as a hug from a family member. For Amy Bradley, proprietor of innovative crumble-based food business Scrumptious Stacks crumbles remind her of her granddad who used to grow his own rhubarb in the garden and make delicious crumbles harnessing its tart delights.

People find their way into independent hospitality from no end of various avenues and this is no different for Amy, who found her foundations into the world of food by travelling the world to cook, quite literally:
She took a gamble by leaving her job, selling grounding possessions, packed up her things and headed to France to go ‘dock walking, approaching every single boat to enquire about steward expositions’. Every good story is built on some setbacks, and it took a bit of time and resilience before finding work on a boat. One thing lead to another and before she knew it Amy was working as a chef on board catamarans, where she had to pick up the trade quite quickly.

Following this taste of life at sea, Amy spent some time in Australia where she attended a culinary school and learned how to cook. Armed and ready, she returned to the waters full time to ‘cook for crew and guests’. This way of life introduced her to an array of amazing chefs where she was able to ‘learn from a variety of people and different styles’ that all informed her practice.

After learning and working, cheffing up goodness at sea for the best part of ten years seeing the world, home began to call and Amy saw an opportunity to pour everything she’d gained into a viable homemade business dealing in ‘heavy smiles’. As she puts it, ‘when cooking for the whole crew, sometimes that meal you make might be the only source of joy in someone’s day – which is exactly what you’re trying to do with cooking, bring joy to people’. This is the Scrumptious Stacks mission in a nutshell – ‘to provide good quality homemade products that bring joy to people’.

Harking back to the nostalgic roots of her love for crumble, it was typically a dish born out of rations and reliant on organic ingredients. In the modern consumerist climate where the emphasis is on producing cheap and largely unhealthy imitations of foods sold as products, desserts like crumble are associated with high sugar, ulta-processed and preservative-laden slabs of gluttony that do no good except for corporate profit margins.

With crumble specifically, ‘it’s not something that’s readily available unless you buy it from a supermarket. Or make it yourself, so it’s a bit of a treat.’ But it doesn’t have to be an unhealthy treat. Amy talks of ‘bringing it back to basics’, with only using organic ingredients and nature’s greatest medicine – fruit.

Just because it’s a pudding, it does not need to come at a health cost – this mantra is at the heart of the Scrumptious Stacks operation. ‘I want to balance being able to have a pudding and not having to sacrifice something for it, you know, everybody needs to have something naughty now. I crumble sweet enough, but it’s not too sweet. And the fruit speaks for itself – it’s one of your five a day.’

The attention to detail paid is second to none, whereas admittedly she could quite easily source readymade custard at fair prices that would potentially save a lot of time in preparation, a greater evil is recognised in what would be ‘serving chemicals to my customers. I don’t want to do that. I want to serve something that is nutritious.’ that sees her instead opt to produce everything homemade – even if it means sometimes taking an hour to reheat a batch of custard!

Rather than having invested heavily in procuring her own industry standard equipment to begin the business, Amy makes use of a local community centre kitted out with ready-made, industrial scale ovens which at once saves a lot of money but also acts to root the business into the community.

When asked what makes the perfect crumble, ‘texture’ is identified as being the most significant element. ‘I make my crumble with a little bit more crunch because you’ve got the custard which melts and softens the crumble anyway, so the combination of textures with the custard and the crumble crunch to me really does make that bit of difference. With the apples too it’s good to have that bit of a crunch – if you freeze them you lose the texture, and the last thing you want is soggy apples, so I use a machine that takes the core out of the apples and allows me to keep them fresh.’

Accessibility can often be lacking when it comes to dessert ranges too, but Amy also has this covered: ‘I offer vegan custard, gluten-free custard, lactose-free, the same with the crumble too and then the fruits are all vegan anyway, so there’s something for everybody.’

She emphasises seasonality when it comes to produce and creates specials based on what is currently in season – mentioning a carrot cake crumble which she describes as ‘still created typically with apples at the base, featuring some fresh grated carrot, with mascarpone or cream cheese on the top and finished off with some candied walnuts or pecans, as well as some cinnamon’. Healthy, organic, inventive – it certainly sounds scrumptious to us!

Customer favourites like the aptly titled ‘Brum Brulee’ – ‘like a crème brulee with the hard case on top, most people love crème brulee and the blowtorching of it is quite a spectacle, it wows people!’ have gone down a storm with customers new and old, and showcase further her penchant for creativity with offering something new to a classic dish. This is the offering – tied with the OG rhubarb crumble – that Amy’d recommend to someone looking to sample a Scrumptious Stack for the first time, it sounds to us like the hardest choice is picking one of the two!

Experimentation and constantly providing new iterations is key to the Scrumptious Stacks modus operandi, and keeps regular customers coming back eagerly, while introducing new flavours and combinations to grateful palettes. Furthermore, Amy is aware of how well these creative flourishes translate to the modern phenomenon of social media, where coupled with her easily digestible and desirable branding, she’s built up a strong following and is able to profit well off the insatiable notion of FOMO her crumbles create.

But a product on its own isn’t enough, and it’s sharing the story behind the brand that has underpinned a lot of this success: ‘People will follow the values and the beliefs that anchor the story of a business, because that’s what they buy into – I think it’s important to show there’s a person behind the brand.’

One thing we always tout about running your own business is the rewards it can bring, for Amy this translates to ‘the freedom it brings is incredible, but also I love the opportunity to provide homecooked, hearty and sustainably sourced food. I find it so rewarding to see how happy customers are and to receive feedback on these products I’ve put so much into.’

It’s one thing to transfer skills into creating such a desirable product, but a big shift has also been adapting to the face to face element at the core of street food, having to be present and to present yourself and your food to people all the time are challenges. Also as comes with the territory, Amy mentions managing people as something she identifies as a challenge: ‘You get so used to running things your way and you get into a mode with it and it’s not always easy to release control and delegate things, but you’ve got to trust others and be able to take that step back in order for things to grow and focus on other aspects.’

Logistical factors to, namely navigating the restrictive space available in the gazebo when trading can be difficult: ‘You’re working in a small environment, you can’t have people leaning over, sticking their feet out – there’s hot custard, there’s burner machines, gas ovens, it’s a lot. You have a responsibility to keep everyone safe while working and need to have systems in place for managing it all.’

Another challenge to face and aspect Amy takes pride in, is the notion of being a solo female business owner. As she sees it, ‘there’s not a lot of women in business – loads of women are involved in food businesses, working with a partner, maybe their brother or a family member, but obviously doing it on your own is a lot harder. So it’s really important to me to support women in business because they are few and far between.’

In terms of the immediate future, Amy is “excited to get an ice cream machine for the summer because I think people think crumbles are just for the winter – hell no.” Further boundaries, prepare to meet your maker! It really seems there are no limits for crumble potential, and this avid traveller is set to explore it all.

At the initial outset of the business, Amy had been combining both pancakes and crumbles, quite literally stacking crumble and custard on top of pancakes. While she received glowing reviews and feedback on this innovation, she felt it was maybe ‘a bit much’ and that there was probably more legs in separating the ventures.

Ideally in the future, this is how she sees the business going – both Scrumptious Stacks and Pancake Stacks stalls trading in situ, bringing Amy’s brand of healthy sweet goodness to the world. Furthermore, she’d ‘like to see the brand go further than just a gazebo’, and has eyes on a permanent fixture somewhere down the line, perhaps in the guise of a Scrumptious Shack..

You can find out more about Scrumptious Stacks here and follow their journey here.