Business Update by CEO Sue Balfour

Presently, Katy Sue Designs remains open for business.

On 23 March 2020 the government stepped up measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and save lives, with many businesses and premises asked to close. However, they have stated that “Online retail is still open and encouraged and postal and delivery service will run as normal.”

As an online retailer, we understand the demand for cake and craft products is high at present and the huge benefit that these products provide to well-being and metal health, as they can be used for indoor activities that can be done safely at home as individuals or as family units.

Because of this, we as a team are doing everything we can to still supply craft and cake decorating products via our online channels, whilst looking after our 34 members of staff and following the government’s advice.

At this current time, 28 out of our 34 staff members are either working from home or resting and waiting for a rota call, and our remaining staff are local and are able to get to work without using public transport. We are fortunate to have four isolated working units at our headquarters in South Shields, England and our facilities have been adjusted to make them incredibly safe for our staff.

Our warehouse and logistics facility is separate to the rest of the business meaning it is easy to isolate that function entirely to protect our staff. As we manufacture 100% of our products in the UK using our own equipment and with our own UK supply chain, we are able to refresh our stocks in line with demand, and we currently have more than three months of stock available to deliver via our websites, Amazon stores and (coming soon!) our Etsy store too.

The warehouse is being manned by two staff members who already live together and walk to work. Acrylic Craft Production is also being manned by two staff members who already live together and walk to work. Katy Sue and Craft Creations production is being manned by four staff members who are working to a rota and with stringent social distancing measures to keep them safe while at work. Couriers are able to attend our sites and collect parcels for delivery without contact with our staff and as such is a safe means of delivering.

Our telephones are diverted to our customer service staff working at home who are still able to take customer calls regarding products, deliveries and trade purchases.

Our creative team is beavering away at home putting the finishing touches to some very exciting products which we will be telling you about soon – so please make sure you have signed up for our newsletter to be the first to hear about new product launches.

Our demonstrators and design team teams are continuing to create craft and cake samples to inspire and support our community of customers via our Facebook pages with live video streams. Get involved, and show us what you’ve been creating too.

We are also supporting our design partners across the globe and our local key suppliers at this difficult time. 

While we find ourselves spending more time indoors than usual, why not visit our YouTube channels which have extensive content available to help teach and demonstrate the use of our products – or join our community of crafters and cake decorators via our Facebook groups.

We are all in this together. Please stay safe, and we hope that we can be part of some of the happy memories you can create in your homes during this time.