8 year old Dumfrieshire lad, Jack Coupar wanted to make himself enough pocket money to buy himself some Rollerblades, so he started his very own Bread making business which has gone from baking a few loaves for his aunts, uncles and grandparents to now baking bread for the glorious community of Dumfries and Galloway (friends and family only).
Jacks mum Louise told DGWGO in a recent interview “Jack and I (whilst his little brother Rory is back at school) are continuing to home school and work, and as much as we are getting on ok we are both trying to bake new things, plants seeds for the first time, paint and generally be creative with our time in the house so we both keep busy and happy.
About 3 weeks ago we made some white bread for the first time, it turned out okay, then we thought we could make some more and give it to aunties, uncles and nana and papa. Nana gave him £2.00 pocket money for his effort and said she would be happy to keep that up if he continued to make it for her each week… and queue Jacks imagination ‘ if I keep getting £2 a week I could save up for rollerblades’…
We (mum and dad) explained that he can save for what he wants as long as he understands that he would need to fund the ingredients himself and explained how profit works and that the kitchen would need to be cleaned etc afterwards (that wasn’t as exciting as the profit making conversation).
So we set off making 4 loaves.. of which one went to his aunties who is in a bubble with their in laws.. who loved it and then wanted one to themselves…. Whose other daughter lives close by and saw a picture of it and wanted one also. Then from there Jacks uncle sent him a logo that he created, again just for something to do to encourage him and make this wee pocket money project even more fun.
I enjoy using social media and put out a few updates about what Jack was doing and then from their its just gone crazy! He’s only making bread for family and close friends (although we’ve had messages from friends in London, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow, not to mention further afield in the region requesting some) and the support he has received has been truly amazing and made this last leg of home schooling genuinely energetic and a happy time.
At present he has delivered to 44 people (some more than once) and has made enough money for roller skates … and is now saving for a paddle board for summer! He’s very excited the D&G What’s Going on has found out about his business and in true Jack style he is taking it all in his stride, setting his bread ingredients out, getting up early before school to make dough and hand writing his thankyou notes and printing his ‘business logo’s off.”
A small pocket money project made huge by the utterly amazing community of Dumfries.
To end on a quote from Jack ‘ Homeschooling definitely is more fun now that I run a business ‘ (genuinely laughed out loud when he said this!!)
