Getting to know you: Bee and Xavier Pelloux

What do you currently do?
We run Contemporary Cake Designs, a local artisan patisserie and cake company based in Cheltenham. At Contemporary Cake Designs we create everything from show stopping cakes for every occasion to wedding favours to products for Cheltenham farmers market. We also offer cake making parties and demonstrations, sharing our expertise. All products are freshly made from locally sourced ingredients. Established in 2005, the business is thriving and has gone from strength to strength.

What is your inspiration in business?
We strive to deliver the best freshly made products, pleasing our customers with everything we create. Service is very important to us and we pride ourselves on catering to every individual making their vision become a reality.

Who do you admire?
People who take the time to learn and gain the skills they may need to succeed in their area of work and people who put themselves out and do whatever they need to achieve their goals and make their dreams come true.

Looking back would you have done things differently?
Everyone has things they may have done differently but we prefer to look forward and learn from any mistakes made which will ultimately make us stronger and enable us to keep pushing forward.

What defines your way of doing business?
We pride ourselves in knowing our business inside out and back to front. This has come from years of experience, working in a variety of places such as Harrods and the Ivy. It is also down to spending hours making sure products are perfected and our services are second to none.

What advice would you give to someone just starting out?
Being self employed is a lifestyle choice and is quite different to being employed. There are fewer holidays and the business is relying on you to carry things forward. You have to believe in yourself and your business 100% because there are times when nobody else will. There are lots of rewarding times to be had if the right choices are made and watching the business you have built grow from strength to strength is definitely a perk of being self employed.