CBI Confederation of British Industry : Ministry of Cake and the EU

People like certainty. In business, of course, we rarely have that luxury, but one thing that can make life more comfortable is reliable and consistent regulation. With the prime minister's EU renegotiations underway and the threat of a possible Brexit, many of us are taking an increasingly hard look at what life might be like outside the European Union. Even those who are sceptical of the EU may be made nervous by the uncertainty of the UK's position.

At Ministry of Cake, we employ over 250 people in South West England and are now the UK's largest frozen dessert manufacturer for the foodservice market. Our customers include Brakes, Bidvest, J D Wetherspoon and Caffè Nero, and our annual turnover is currently £30million.

Over the past few years, Ministry of Cake's relationship with the EU has become more important. Not only do we employ staff from other EU countries, we now have rapidly growing sales to EU countries - we currently export at a rate of £2million a year and see further growth in these markets as a massive opportunity. We do export to countries outside the EU (and are planning more much further afield) but the ease with which we have managed to comply with European export rules mean that EU sales have been much less painful. The benefits of EU membership are significant for a new exporter like us, especially with regard to food safety regulation. Simpler rules mean that we can engage our new EU customers in discussions about exciting new desserts rather than export paperwork and customs delays.

Having a sizeable euro income stream has opened the door to larger markets and better prices when we purchase ingredients for our products. This also creates a benefit in terms of a natural hedge against foreign exchange risk.

Ministry of Cake is a significant employer of manual labour in the South West and around half our current workforce is from outside the UK - most being EU citizens. Of course we don't discriminate, either positively or negatively, against UK workers - we simply employ the best people available to perform the required jobs. If we found ourselves outside the European Union, however, the pool of available labour would be far smaller. That would make recruitment much more difficult.

Sales, purchasing and recruitment are all made considerably easier due to consistent regulation across national borders. The prospect of increased restrictions and regulatory changes as a result of UK withdrawal from the EU is very unattractive. Our experiences during Ministry of Cake's recent rapid growth into export markets has made our position very clear. We recognise huge benefits from the EU, and we're hoping for greater certainty over the UK's membership as soon as possible.

• Other business case studies covering how the UK being in the EU impacts them can be found here.
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