A BROWNIE connoisseur has been celebrated at the Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards in Swindon, and is watching her gourmet business go from strength to strength.

Jodie Perkins from Devizes began baking and selling delicious brownies of different flavours in 2013 and now owns her own company called The Gourmet Brownie Kitchen, supplying to businesses up and down the country.

As her company grew bigger and was gaining more and more attention, 25-year-old Jodie quit her job as a team leader at Capita to bake and sell the sweet treats full time.

“I have been trading as The Gourmet Brownie Kitchen since 2013,” she explained. “I was baking before I went to work and when I was getting back from work.

“I thought, if I am doing this part time, I could do it full time.

“I have my own website and supply wholesale nationwide.”

Her journey into brownie making began when she was inspired by a colleague at work, and now Jodie runs a market stall in Trowbridge, Salisbury and Bristol, provides wholesale to businesses in Devizes and across the country, with her eyes now set on selling in London.

She said: “One of my colleagues in her first week brought some brownies to make everyone like her at her new job.

“I said they were amazing and she gave me the recipe, it went from there really.

“I’m looking at trading in underground stations, that is where I see a lot of brownie companies training and the atmosphere is really good, there is a high footfall with lots of people.

“The awards were really good. I was overwhelmed to be considered for it, especially when they said Young Entrepreneur.

“It was a really good evening.

“I was quite disappointed I didn’t get first but it was my first award ceremony and hopefully there will be many more firsts to come.”