Young Business of the Year: Little Dessert Shop Sponsored Carvers Building Supplies

The fast-growing chain found favour with the judges because of the way its formula of stylish desserts had proved a winner with a growing young audience.

Area manager Roman Aslamzada said: "We've been going just two years now, and so far so good.

"I'd like to thank the Express & Star for having us here, and I want to thank our employees who have been an enormous part of Little Dessert Shop alongside the customers.

"We are on a boom period so we are opening as many outlets as we possibly can. We are on our seventh store right now, which will be opening in this coming week."

He said the aim was to have 15 shops, including franchises, by the end of the year. Our first franchise opened in Bloxwich and it's been a huge success.

"But without our customers' support and our employees hard work this wouldn't have been possible at all."

The runners-up were Compare Car Mods and Wealth Design. The judges were impressed that after only a few months, Compare Car Mods is already well on the way to being a well-run Black Country business, trusted by suppliers and clients alike.

Wealth Design has made large strides in the past year, with a flourishing client base and astute acquisition despite the uncertain economic environment.

The Wednesfield-based Little Dessert Shop chain has proved a rapid success story since its first shop opened in Queen Street, Wolverhampton, in May 2015.

The reigning Express & Star Business Awards young business, has continued to grow over the last year.

The company, which formed in November 2014 and has its head office in Wolverhampton Road, now employs 40 and achieved £500,000 turnover for its last financial year.

It grew to three sites within 20 months and another is due to open.

The plan of the directors when the Queen Street shop opened was to let the manager run the store and to take a back seat, but fortunately, the directors had the vision to spot and develop the potential of Little Dessert Shop.

Through strong leadership, entrepreneurial vision, passion and lots of hard work, Little Dessert Shop has grown into a well-loved local brand.

The sweet success has inspired many other rival dessert restaurants to open in the area, but the directors say that what sets Little Dessert Shop apart from the others is its unrivalled passion.

They say the mission is to be a brand of excellence within the dessert dining sector, offering the finest desserts in stylish surroundings, served with a smile. Their vision is to expand nationally and even globally in the long term.

Marketing is a very important part of the business and Little Dessert Shop continues to maintain a strong and active presence on social media, with more than 50,000 people following its Facebook pages. A website is also being developed.

The head office team has expanded to help with the increased workload and apprentices have also been recruited.

Last year a central warehouse opened enabling the business to store stock centrally and deliver to stores as and when needed.

The third store in West Bromwich opened in August last year with a seating capacity of 100 in a former Pizza Hut restaurant. It features the UK’s first Chocolate Wall – a chocolate waterfall.

One of the projects the team has been working on is franchising Little Dessert Shop.

Little Dessert Shop also exhibited at the Franchise Show held at the Birmingham National Exhibition Centre in 2016 and there been interest internationally from afar as South Africa and Oman.

Development of a full Little Dessert Shop branded product range is also in the pipeline.