A new vendor in the Eastgate Centre’s Loch & Larder food hall has posed some problems for dessert business Shakes ‘n’ Cakes.
Shakes ‘n’ Cakes opened its fifth branch in Culduthel earlier this year and has built up a host of loyal customers since.
But when customers started congratulating the team on their sixth branch ahead of an opening in the Eastgate Centre, they were a little confused.
Manager Armis Dembovskis said: “When it was a few customers we didn’t pay much attention, but when it was 10 to 15 customers we wondered what was going on.”
It turned out signage for six vendors who will make up the centre’s new food hall had been put up and one of them was called Shakes & Cakes, bearing more than a passing similarity to Shakes ‘n’ Cakes.
Losing loyal customers
Shakes ‘n’ Cakes is concerned this confusion will continue and lead to it losing customers.
Even local radio and newspapers had been fooled by the new shop name and promoted it as Shakes ‘n’ Cakes’s second Inverness location – so they want to set the record straight.
Mr Dembovskis said: “We are a busy place and we have loyal customers, we don’t want people to be confused by going there, maybe not enjoying it and not wanting to come back to us.
“We just want to let people know it’s not us.”
He added: “As a manager, I think it’s better for them to be different so at least people aren’t getting disappointed, a lot of people think it’s us.
“In Aberdeen we’ve had people trying to copy our menu and things but we’ve never had someone copying our name.”
Name change for new business
The owners of Shakes ‘n’ Cakes reached out to Aramark, who are operating the new food hall in the Eastgate centre, but had little luck “for two or three weeks”.
Now though, as a result of confusion and complaints, Aramark has confirmed it will change the name of their new dessert stand.
A spokeswoman said: “We will no longer be going with Shakes & Cakes.
“Someone from our team will be reaching out to Shakes ‘n’ Cakes and the outlet will have a different name when it goes live.”
The new name will be announced in due course.
Conversation