A little honesty cake shed outside a Plymouth home is attracting customers from across the city and even further afield.
There is no shop counter, no cashier and no high-street storefront.
Instead, every Saturday, a small shed outside a home in Humber Close is transformed into a tempting little treasure trove of homemade cakes, sweet treats and drinks.
It is the Snack Shack Cake Shed, and after only a few weeks, it is already proving to be a remarkable local success.
Run by Jason Pick and Rebecca Hopkinson, the idea is wonderfully simple. The shed is stocked with homemade treats, customers choose what they want, make their payment and take their goodies away.
The important part is that it operates on trust.
There is nobody standing behind a counter taking the money. Customers use the payment facilities provided, put their money into the honesty system and help themselves to what they have bought.
And people are clearly happy to make the journey.
On Saturdays, queues can stretch down the steps and along the street as customers wait for their turn to see what is on offer.
The attraction is the food itself. The Snack Shack produces a range of homemade bakes and sweet treats, with brownies, blondies, cookies, cheesecakes, traybakes and other creations among the goodies that have appeared in the Cake Shed.
There are also drinks and milkshakes, giving customers plenty of temptation to choose from.
What makes the story particularly interesting is just how quickly the little shed has caught the public’s imagination.
Jason and Rebecca already run Snack Shack, taking vans to workplaces across the city, as well as providing buffets and catering for events. The Cake Shed is a new addition to the business but the response has been striking.
Customers aren’t simply popping in because they happen to be passing. People are travelling from different parts of Plymouth and beyond because they want to get their hands on the homemade treats.
For Jason and Rebecca, seeing a queue building outside their home must be quite a sight.
What began as a small idea has created a Saturday destination where people are prepared to wait, travel and come back again.
There is also something rather refreshing about the honesty shack concept.
In a world where everything increasingly involves scanners, tills, apps and automated payments, the Snack Shack is asking its customers to do something very simple trust each other.
Customers choose and pay for what they take, while Jason and Rebecca place their faith in the honesty system.
And judging by the queues, the idea appears to be working.
If those Saturday queues continue, this little Plymouth honesty shack could quickly become a regular weekend destination for cake lovers.
Sometimes a successful local business doesn’t need a huge premises or an expensive shopfront.
Sometimes all it takes is a good idea, homemade food and a little bit of trust.
Photographs © Wayne Perry / Plymouth Post