After going on a long search for delicious cheesecake and failing, Sean Jay, 46, founder of The Great British Cheesecake, made it his mission to deliver the perfect dessert.
Through trial and error, Jay baked a number of cheesecakes – trying a variety of flavours, learning that if you want a really delicious cheesecake you should “never ever freeze one.” He finally found the perfect formula. So subsequently in 2016, Cheesecake GB began.
The company has gone from having only two stores using Deliveroo to now having three and last month saw its Canary Wharf store opening. They then became the number one restaurant on the Deliveroo app, receiving the largest amount of orders throughout Canary Wharf within their first week of opening.
This came as a “surprise” to the team and they even ran out of packaging and stock due to the unexpected high demand.
Jay prides himself on being the first cheesecake company in the UK to make what he calls “proper baked cheesecake”.
He shared his methods: “We don’t bake them in a way that dries them out. Instead, they are baked in a bain-marie anywhere between 160-170 degrees, so they retain a high level of creaminess.”
Cheesecake GB deliver cheesecake straight to your door in areas surrounding Piccadilly, Battersea ,and Canary Wharf using Deliveroo and the city pantry corporate delivery.
Jay spoke of his decision to specialise in cheesecakes: “Cheesecake has generally been badly done in this country with a lot of frozen and fridge – set cheesecakes that are overly sweet and sickly, as well as being quite small.
“Freezing a cheesecake causes the proteins in the cream cheese to ‘clump’ together, creating a very cloying and rather crumbly texture when it’s defrosted.”
He says his own approach – of making the desserts by hand – plays a huge part in the business’ success.
“So many big companies describe themselves as being ‘homemade’ when they are actually made by machines, in massive factories. All of my cheesecakes are baked at home, quite literally, in Piccadilly and at our kitchen in Battersea.
They are not made by robots. We make them, by hand, with all the care and attention that goes with that!”
Despite the heavy, yet delicious food combination of sugar and fat, it seems it’s a guilty pleasure for all, especially those within the Canary Wharf area. Cheesecake GB have sold over 1,000 slices since opening.
Cheesecake GB has been at a number of food festivals over the year: The Festival of Food and Drink, BBC Good Food, Spitalfields Startisans, and multiple food festivals at Canary Wharf.
When asked what the biggest challenge of working at a pop up food market is, Jay said: “Food markets are tricky, because you are very beholden to the weather and, in Canary Wharf, the wind!
“As such, selling directly online via a platform, such as Deliveroo, is far better for us. To anyone trying to establish a business that is beholden to the British weather… well… good luck!”