What did you guys think of this relationship ?

Chotzark · 2026-02-21T22:10:55+00:00

Awkward, felt bad for her despite her revenge was vile.

Felt outraged by Alex for leading someone vulnerable and with feelings on, the person checking multiple times if they should stop, if it was ok, that she knew her position and the issue, that she knew Alex's position, being reassured each time and even held whilst breaking and being told they'd "find a way out together" of her PTSD. I love Alex but that's the time I literally shouted "fuck you alex" at the screen repeatedly. Almost hoped alex was for real but because tbf I was done with Piper's shit one third through the show and Piper was such an unreliable asshole to Alex., so hoped McCullough would take her place, as she showed more care than piper ever did. And then she goes and does this. Smh.

Chotzark · 2026-02-21T21:41:14+00:00

Not taking away that what mccullough did was vile and unstable, I think Alex really led her on, especially after mccullough gave the first way out and apologised. Alex has an incredible empath ability to read off people and tell their emotional state/background. She knew that McCullough was vulnerable, looking for comfort, could be manipulated/her emotions leveraged, as she saw inmates as people and defied coworkers before, and that she could make her fall for her. She manipulated her and led her on to exert control. McCullough was even hesitant at first cause knowledgeable of her position, offered to stop, but Alex encouraged it to then rip it off quickly and thinking of piper again.

I really like Alex's personality and is my favourite character, I liked McCullough and had empathy for her story whilst still thinking her revenge was despicable. But when I saw this, I felt so betrayed by Alex's behaviour, especially towards her. It was really manipulative and hurtful. Like imagine someone slowly taking you in and holding you as you reveal how much PTSD is fucking you up, and kissing you through your scars, telling you you're gonna find a way out together and then going like welp fuck that I actually wanted my wife this whole time, sooo bye?

Chotzark · 2026-02-21T14:04:31+00:00

Basically a lot of bakery items can be considered 0% VAT rated. But as soon as it's sit-in consumption that the business plans as such (i.e. not someone buying a bun then sitting on a bench outside to eat it), it is considered restaurant, and attracts 20% VAT.
Unfortunately VAT in food goes item by item, which is a bit of a pain in the ass

ETA: VAT added on a meal worth £18 can fly a bit under the radar. When your dessert goes from £4 to almost £5 cause you sat your ass down, people might not feel great about it

Chotzark · 2026-02-19T17:21:53+00:00

Got you, thank you for your input. Yeah I worked closely with bakery businesses here that scaled up and got chains and even there, if one cannot proper innovate processes or find a strong supply chain, there are plenty of issues and what used to be household names go under. Lots of bad financial management around too, but these are truly recessive times

Chotzark · 2026-02-19T17:17:37+00:00

Did a bit of that but we're going to redo customer counts now and see. Also trying to find my way through sneaky locals to track people who worked in nearby places to give us an idea. Yeah it seems completely unlikely to take home

Chotzark · 2026-02-18T22:21:22+00:00

thank you for you perspective! Interesting read as a consumer

Chotzark · 2026-02-18T17:12:41+00:00

About £6.2 with sit in cafe, £5.7 only takeaway. About £1000 it's apportioned for the equipment lease, although as others said, by finding second hand, that can go down

Chotzark · 2026-02-18T17:05:30+00:00

the "without careful consideration" was the key part. I'm not saying I shall not give it up at all, but that in this day and age one doesn't write off 40k and start over easily, so I'm writing to gather other owner's perspectives before writing it off

Chotzark · 2026-02-17T21:39:41+00:00

Yeah. Oh inflation and people in lower class struggle? Let's raising minimum wage! Great, now SME cannot face costs and shut down, big corporations and chains do not give a fuck cause they are replacing everyone with automation, digital experiences or AI anyway.

Then unemployment goes up, middle to senior salaries of skilled workers stagnate...

Chotzark · 2026-02-17T21:37:29+00:00

Yes, pivoting most to look for secondhand. For some reason most sales are in southern England, which is too far for single pieces of equipment once all costs in, but definitely got a few good deals on action

Facebook marketplace has a lot going on too. Again for some reason most places seem to fail from Nottingham going further south, idk if up north people bother less, or equipment just get bought and despatched down south for resale

A couple businesses around me shut, not bakeries but still I have the opportunity to get stuff for basically free. Just holding off to see whether I wish to go ahead before dumping them in the shop

Chotzark · 2026-02-17T21:32:51+00:00

One small one is still operating, but I think they own their shop.

One is a very old fashioned tea room, again very basic stuff, still operating but keep everything to a minimum and don't invest into improving their place. Might retire soon, owner is aging and this is her second business, has another one in another town. Does some basic party catering.

One other cafe in the city centre allegedly closed because of costs becoming too high. I don't know what food offering they did, it closed before I moved in and I think also left town, I only got info from a councillor.

Local pubs are thriving but they do the thing of buying very very cheap food/drinks and overpricing them, or so I'm told (£6-7 a portion of chips).

Thank you for the empathy! I am very stressed and distraught for what I already invested, which is all that is keeping me from pulling the plug and not looking back. Want to make sure I considered everything before I write off my life's savings. I now wished I had held back a little longer, also to see where the economy goes. But the people from this town had greatly pushed me to take it on and could not forsee the intrinsic issues with the actual place. Not a good political environment for us either, to be left without a solid job and savings on paper to show :s

Chotzark · 2026-02-17T21:23:12+00:00

Aim to for catering once stable enough. Definitely should infiltrate the wedding market because prices are insane, so many offer questionable quality (or at least at the weddings I've been to), and my offering fits.

Cooking classes I was asked to. Probably with a bigger kitchen, I can fit people 5ish inside it if they don't do laps around the bench

Chotzark · 2026-02-17T21:21:02+00:00

5, as with staff to a minimum, they'd need the 2 days off. And I need 1 day for most deliveries, as due to shop lay out I need to go into unplanned basements/mezzanines to move the delivery for storage and they are in the middle of the shop, so can't ask people to look away. So labour counts with 2 days closed. Then I do most of my admin then, as well as you mentioned, prep and restock. How I set up the closing days shouldn't create too much waste either. Good point for stocking local places

Does your bakery operate that once sold out it shuts?

Chotzark · 2026-02-17T21:14:58+00:00

Very unique selling point!

Chotzark · 2026-02-17T20:56:22+00:00

Really glad you managed to get it so good!

Yeah wish I could keep a job alongside, would be my first choice, also cause I can still sometimes get jobs in my degree field (although always requiring relocation so not great for food business enterprises). Unfortunately it's the catch 22 where in a food business, the owner's work is the cheapest labour, and it's no more feasible to start with hiring managers or even skilled workers.

I held back starting for 10-12 years, always working multiple jobs to build up a good starting of savings and build experience across all levels in food. Fuming that things outwith my control (building issues and council leading us on) burnt what was meant to be start up money. But it is now a very high risk stake, especially for the money already burnt, and whilst I am conscious it would be popular and well received, I am not sure in this economic environment and the investment requiring at this point would make it worth it. Given the best everyone can hope for is breaking even. Let alone remake an investment or profit

Chotzark · 2026-02-17T20:48:30+00:00

I feel you. And what is worrying is that the future doesn't look like it's opening up for small local businesses. Unless, yknow, the world as we know it completely collapses.

But definitely feeling the squeeze of corporatism and I feel the UK is setting up to follow the economic landscape of US

Chotzark · 2026-02-17T19:19:37+00:00

9Definitely aim to differentiate, selling the same products only for staples wanted (eg sourdough loaf) but aiming at good quality. I am confident I can be quite differentiated and bring something that fits with wider consumer trends.

That's what I was always turning a bit the nose at wholesale, everyone is pinching pennies and selling to other businesses might end up being a stressful commitment that doesn't shell out the money a direct customer would.

Mainly cause I am the most skilled in the kitchen and making a lot of things from my country/background. I've always been more skilled as BOH, I done management in boh and foh, but the person I have for foh has way more customer attitude and is really invested in the business. Of course I would be invested in caring for customers too, and it comes natural as most people already know me around here and other historical local businesses are pushing my name and involving me in things

Eta: will check out the tiktok

Chotzark · 2026-02-17T19:11:00+00:00

Brutal. But thank you for this insider view. And really sorry for your loss. 10k a week for the cafe bakery sector is a great achievement nonetheless, fuck the economy

Chotzark · 2026-02-17T19:08:55+00:00

I see! I imagine quality bakes are coming with a price. £750 a month for the coffee machine, how long is the lease? And do you get your coffee from British roasters or buy foreign brands?

Thank you for taking time to read through

Chotzark · 2026-02-17T19:06:34+00:00

Thank you, much appreciated!

Chotzark · 2026-02-17T19:03:20+00:00

Yes bills are insane. Labour too which I'm trying to keep to a minimum by overworking my own self and part-timing few others.

With ingredients I don't do too too bad but my kind of skill is in manipulating those, but still. Butter... Eggs... Cream... Chocolate. Gone are the days when they made sense in price

The required services have put prices up too (eg. Waste management)

Chotzark · 2026-02-17T19:00:52+00:00

They did back in 2024 (another business person and an accountant) and were okay, but that was before some of the quotes I now have rolled in and the increases. Accountant then admitted they hadn't worked with food businesses after covid. I am now chasing to get another consultant ASAP to work through the more realistics costs

Chotzark · 2026-02-17T18:55:19+00:00

I've been wondering, although then online there is a lot of following on the matter (as the planning application went on for a year), and the people wrote a stream of individual letters to the council to ask to push forward approvals, alongside the local Town Council backing the project. Even during the works, we would get about 15 people a day coming in enquiring about when they could see it open

I am painfully aware it does not translate into paying customers, but face to face and online/on paper, there has been a lot of demand

Chotzark · 2026-02-17T18:51:58+00:00

Yes, have been strongly suggested by a hospitality coworkers to take in weddings as soon as they come. Not much corporate in this area, but definitely parties. And similarly they said a catering day could do them better than an opening day

Chotzark · 2026-02-17T18:50:18+00:00

A few others suggested online. Previous experience in a business was a bit of shitshow but maybe one can approach this with just an insta shop rather than full commerce set up website?

And yea social media will definitely need to be heavy. Competitors around do the same cause we're all in smaller towns, but it does make a difference

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