The Membership Podcast with Claire Mitchell

Rhiannon Relfe - The Bakehouse Club Interview

• Claire Mitchell

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This week on The Membership Podcast, Claire chats with Rhiannon Relfe from The Epsom Bakehouse about her membership, The Bakehouse Club.

Rhiannon teaches people how to bake great bread at home and has built a thriving membership around live bread-making classes, a growing recipe library, and a friendly community of fellow bakers. What makes her membership particularly interesting is how simple it started and how she has kept it sustainable for more than five years. 

In this episode, we discuss:

  •  How Rhiannon turned her in-person bread-making classes into an online membership during lockdown 
  •  Why she launched with a very simple offer rather than waiting for everything to be perfect 
  •  How she got her first members from her existing email list 
  •  The structure of The Bakehouse Club and what members receive each month 
  •  Why live classes create a strong sense of community 
  •  How she teaches bread-making online without complicated tech 
  •  The surprising benefits of pre-recording class tutorials rather than sharing live recordings 
  •  Building a membership around a hobby and shared interest 
  •  Creating recurring income from knowledge and expertise 
  •  Keeping members engaged with new themes, seasonal recipes, and breads from around the world 
  •  The role of community in long-term membership retention 
  •  Lessons learned from running a membership for over five years 
  •  Advice for anyone sitting on a membership idea and wondering whether to launch 

Key Takeaways

  •  You don't need a huge amount of content to start a membership. 
  •  Existing customers are often your best first members. 
  •  Simple memberships can be incredibly effective. 
  •  Community doesn't have to mean a busy Facebook group. 
  •  Memberships can evolve naturally over time. 
  •  Live teaching can create stronger relationships than endless content libraries. 
  •  A membership can become a valuable recurring income stream while supporting a wider business ecosystem. 

About Rhiannon

Rhiannon is the founder of The Epsom Bakehouse, where she teaches people how to bake delicious bread at home through online classes, courses, and her membership, The Bakehouse Club.

Having started as a home baker selling bread locally, she now helps bread enthusiasts build their skills and confidence through relaxed, friendly online teaching. 

Links Mentioned

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Speaker

The membership podcast with Claire Mitchell. Hi Rihannon, welcome. Can you introduce yourself and tell us what your business does?

Speaker 1

Oh hi Claire. It's lovely to be chatting with you. Yeah, I'm Rihannon and I'm the owner of the Epsom Bakehouse. I teach people to bake great bread at home. So lots of online classes, and I also have a membership which is a bakehouse club.

Speaker

And I'm guessing you're based in Epsom from the name, but whereabouts is that for those people who don't know?

Speaker 1

Yeah, so I'm in Epsom in Surrey, so just southwest of London. You've mentioned that you've got your membership. Who is that for? Yeah, so the Bakehouse Club is for homebread bakers who want a friendly, relaxed environment to learn to bake even more grape bread.

Speaker

And is it for beginners? Is it for experienced bread bakers? What kind of level are you teaching?

Speaker 1

So you can absolutely come in as a beginner because all the classes are step by step. And I teach a live class every month. So if you had questions, you could definitely ask them there. But it's also really seen as a kind of progression. So I do also teach standalone classes live and recorded. So you could join one of those and learn to bake, say, like a crusty loaf or baguettes or cheer batter. And then if you want to start baking more in the bake house club, you'll do a different bread every month. And there's lots of different kind of themes to choose from if you want to go on in the portal. So if you are interested in kind of building your bread making knowledge at home, then definitely it's for you.

Speaker

So when did you start your membership?

Speaker 1

Well, it started back in 2020. So I don't wish to really take everyone back to that lockdown time, but a lot of people were baking bread. And as I wasn't able to continue my in-person classes, I actually took all of my classes online and started teaching the individual online classes, which were very popular. And this was really progression. So the Bake House Club was a progression to that. So to say, look, if you really want to get into this and start baking something different every month, then come and join the club. There'll be a live online class every month, and then there'll be somewhere to find the recordings of those so you can watch them back if you can't make it. So yeah, middle of 2020 really went for it, and it's been going ever since.

Speaker

So were you teaching in-person bread making classes from your home, from a studio? What were you doing before the membership?

Speaker 1

Yeah, so the Epsom Bake House started when I actually left a previous career and I'd started temping, and I came across an organization called the Bread Angels who teach people to set up their own bakery from home. So I took that course and I started selling breads locally on my local farmers market and to local customers. And then I started teaching in person. And I was doing that for about six years before 2020. So lots of local classes, you know, lovely day outs for people to come and learn with friends and family. And obviously, that just ended kind of overnight in March 2020, couldn't have them in person. I'd actually already explored setting up an online class. It was kind of going to be the next step in my business anyway. And I was already selling a course online, so I just extended that and did live classes and I'm you know, governed it was such a fantastic way to build a community and get in contact with people. And yeah, the bakehouse club came along as part of that, and I still teach all of my classes online, and now you can either access them in a live online class, or as it's becoming more popular as a recorded class, so either doing a standalone recorded class on my membership portal or joining the bakehouse club. Yeah, so it's really developed a different part of my business, and that's where that's come from. And your kitchen looks fabulous.

Speaker

Did you have to have a commercial kitchen to do this?

Speaker 1

No, so I now teach the Bread Angels course as well with people interested in starting their own bakery from home, and I do that online as well. Um, but yeah, this is my own home kitchen. So um, when I did start my own bakery from home, I didn't have this kitchen, we were living somewhere else. I had like a very small galley kitchen, um, very narrow, you can't pass two people behind you. So absolutely you can do it from home. And I like to be able to show people that you can do it from home and show people what kind of setup I have. And also when I'm teaching people who are just learning to bake bread at home because they're really interested in just doing that as a hobby. I can say, look, this is what I have. It's probably quite similar to what you have. I don't have any commercial equipment here.

Speaker

So you launched in 2020. How did you launch it though that very first time? What did that first version of your membership look like? And how did you get your first members?

Speaker 1

I got my first members through my email list. So I did have an existing email list, and people were signing up to that because they were interested in learning about bread. And so I launched it mainly with a series of emails to that list. And actually, a lot of people who joined were existing people who'd experienced my classes already. So it's uh kind of you know, there was that keenness there, people really interested in learning more. Um, so it was very low-key, sending out emails, maybe a couple of social media posts just showing uh, you know, what I was doing behind the scenes, and took the interest from there. And it started off just by saying we're gonna have this one live class a month, and that's you know, started from that point.

Speaker

What did the first version of your membership actually look like? What did you launch? Was it just saying I'm going to do a breadbreaking class every month? And was that it?

Speaker 1

So I gave people access, and you still have access to a couple of the really popular classes, I think Baguettes, Ciabatta, you you know, you get access to them as part of your membership. So it was a little bit of an incentive that there was a little bit of background there that people weren't starting and having to wait for a class. And um, then yes, just saying we'll have this live online class and a Facebook group, and I'll put the recordings up there as well. So very, very low tech, just coming in and testing the waters basically and saying are people interested. And I kind of cut had uh maybe four to five months of proposed classes. Obviously, I talked to my members, and if there's a bread they want to make, I work those in. But I said, here's the kind of things we'll look at in the next kind of four or five months. And if you come along, you can learn about them. And there'll be an opportunity every month to have a chat with me about bread making. So it doesn't always have to just be about the class. You can come and ask your bread making questions there as well. So yeah, I guess having that option for a bit more access to me on an ongoing basis and the opportunity to learn some really exciting different breads.

Speaker

Do you have a Facebook group or the community that goes with it?

Speaker 1

I still have the Facebook group. It's not particularly active now because I've moved to a bespoke membership portal. So have my own website that people can log in and then they can access all of the recorded classes from the membership there. And the membership community really comes in the live classes, so have such a great time when people come on the classes and discuss the bread baking and ask questions. And I think you know, people do feedback, you get that like-minded community, and you know, you just people who really enjoy baking and you can share your bakes. But yeah, people do like to share. I probably should encourage people more to share in the Facebook group pictures of what they make. So do love to see what people make after a class.

Speaker

Your membership is really interesting because you teach bread baking, which by its nature takes hours because things have to prove and it's a long, you know, four hours maybe process. How do you manage that when you're teaching live classes?

Speaker 1

Uh yeah, I definitely don't make you sit there and watch your dough rise together. I might run out of small talk for that. So absolutely go with the here's one I made earlier. So I will always make the stages of the bread beforehand. So I'll have a dough rising and I'll also have the finished product show. So you do get all of the stages demonstrated during the class. Um, and then I'll have a recording later. So if you do my standalone classes, those recordings come to you straight after the class, usually within an hour or so. So it's within the time that you would be waiting for your dough to rise. So it's there to watch when you're ready to shape. And then in the membership, it's usually a little bit later because I record them each month, but they're still there for you to watch back, and you will have been able to see all the shaping stages during the class. Uh yeah, so absolutely it is me just saying by the end of the class you'll have a dough rising, and then you'll need to come back to it later on. But I think it's nice. I time the classes so it's like late morning usually, and that does work well that people generally end up with bread for tea, so they're by the end of the day.

Speaker

Fantastic. And so, what kind of filming setup do you use when you're doing this? Do you have to have like lots of different cameras and special lighting? What does that look like?

Speaker 1

Uh so I do tend to just have one camera, but I will move it so you can see my hands doing, especially the shaping. I think that's the most technical bit. On the live online classes, I do encourage people to turn their videos on as well if they want to, because I can then say, Oh, here's how it's looking to me. It is a bit difficult over camera, but I think I've learned to spot when it's very sticky or it looks a bit dry. And I'll say, Yeah, I'll do a couple of tests and say, How's that looking for you? Can you do this with your dough? Is it stretchy? Things like that. What would I be looking for in a class if I was there in person? So any recordings that you receive from my classes are pre-recorded. So I don't send you live recordings of the classes. I want it to be quite free-flowing in classes, and people ask questions. I don't want people to be put off by the fact it might be recorded, especially for the classes that I sell repeatedly, like baguettes and cheer bathroom sourder and things like that. I've made standalone recordings and then I have different camera angles. So, yes, you can see what my hands are doing and see my face to video as well. So, but more it's just me changing the camera angle and recording it. But yes, I am very, very lucky to have somewhere I can stand and put a camera in front of me. So it's a natural studio, and I have a skylight here, so it's lit from all that.

Speaker

It never occurred to me that you wouldn't kind of record and send out the recordings from the live class. It's really interesting that you pre-record it anyway and send that out. And I love that because then people aren't going to be worried or you know, embarrassed about being on camera. It's just there for the for the live experience.

Speaker 1

Yeah, I am very conscious as well that I encourage people to, you know, they're in their homes. Some people might have their families there and things like that. Some people might want their children to join and absolutely don't want them to feel like that couldn't happen, and if they have concerns about that, or people not to feel like they can't ask a question, like there is no stupid question. I've had all those questions that you've probably got. I've probably already asked them myself and heard them before, and I'd rather that happen. You know, I definitely remember having you know, people in class, especially when I was teaching in lockdown, and they might have like grabbed the wrong flower or something, and you really need to work with that person, be like, oh no, okay, we've just worked backwards and what's happened so that you can actually make your breads. So definitely I want it to be like relaxed and friendly. Also, with doing the pre-records, I can just be quite a bit more measured. I can think about what I say, and also obviously I can make it accessible as possible, for example, with subtitles. Yeah, they're clear, they don't jump around all over the place. You know, it's very clear the process that you're following. So yeah, it just for me, a clean recording really helps to send out.

Speaker

I love the fact that you've thought it through so thoroughly, and it's really for the benefit of your members. So, do you think you'll ever run out of bread to teach?

Speaker 1

Yeah, I do sometimes ask myself that. So, yeah, my membership just turned five, and so it's a lot of classes, and also I'm very, very conscious of not overwhelming my members, but we have various categories, everything from what we might consider a classic bread in this country. And I'm very conscious that not everyone calls what we call a classic bread, but you know, your crusty loaf and your whole meal loaf, and then maybe things like the baguette. Then I do like breads from around the world, and that is probably my favourite thing to do is explore other cultures and what other people eat. And I really think bread is such a connection, it's something that's in pretty much all diets in some form. And there's usually something that people ate, often in childhood, that they'll really reminisce about. And that for me is just fantastic. You learn so much about a culture, about how someone maybe grew up just by what they enjoyed eating and perhaps what they were given as a child. I can still tell you about the bakery that I went to as a child and what breads we got there and how much I enjoyed them. And I appreciate that's not not what everyone has, but a lot of people do. Um, and you know, we've had guest tutors in the membership. So, for example, we did Japanese breads with a Japanese baker, bread baker who I know came in and taught us, and it was breads I'd never tried before, and how popular they are as breads in Japan, you know, and we've done things like bao buns, we've done lots of celebratory breads from around the world. So things like panettoni, um sureki, which is like Greek Easter bread, really delicious, and it is very symbolic. So just learning that history isn't just a food lesson, it becomes like here's why people bake this bread and when they would eat it traditionally. So for me, I I absolutely love that part of it. Will I ever run out? I hope not. And I like to do themes. So, for example, we do some sourdough, so perhaps doing different breads that are sourdough, the kind of festive loaves. So I do try and theme it a bit through the year. And obviously, as new people join, we can revisit some breads and perhaps in a slightly different form. So do it with a maybe a different flour, things like that, and kind of a reminder. So we just did olive ciabatta. So ciabatta is a kind of standard um bread recipe in the bakehouse club, but we then did olives. Someone loved olives, so we did it with olives, it's a slightly different bake. So just mixing it up really. That being said, you know, I I love the live classes, so I always wanted to come up with new new breads, but some point down the line, if if people were saying, Oh, we've done it all, if whether we did or not, but maybe it would just be there as a library. But at the moment I love doing the live classes.

Speaker

How many members joined in that first launch that you did? And how have you grown it since? And how many members have you got now?

Speaker 1

So I think when I started, I had about 10 people join, and I do still have people who've been in that membership the whole time. And currently I do still have about 12 members who join me, and not everyone can make it to the live online classes, but obviously they get the recording as well. And uh, even though people come and go, I do find that people enjoy joining and having a look around the membership and baking some of the breads, even if they're not able to make it to the live classes. So for me, that community has been really fantastic.

Speaker

And how are you getting new people in? You know, do you do periodic launches? Is it open all the time? How does that work?

Speaker 1

Yeah, the membership is open all the time. And it's something I talk about, for example, when I'm doing my live standalone classes. I'll always mention I have a membership and sometimes that will be of interest to people who've just attended one class. But I have to say, a promotion is something that I would like to do more of. I've done um various kind of launches or promotions, for example, around Christmas, we always do festive bakes, so I'll promote those festive bakes coming up that are in the membership, and also that it's a great library of back catalogue of brev classes. So, yeah, promoting it as well to my email list saying this is what's coming up in the bakes as well. But I'm very clear that I do want to do more of that because I think it's a bit of a hidden gem that I don't talk about enough.

Speaker

Could you tell us what your proudest moment has been so far and maybe share a couple of member stories?

Speaker 1

So it's absolutely fantastic. I think seeing the feedback, especially when I get feedback from members who say that their friends or family were wowed by what they made, that's always fantastic. When people have that sense of achievement and it's something that maybe their whole family enjoyed, and they weren't sure would people eat this or but actually everyone's enjoyed it. So that always is really fantastic to hear. And also when people say they can't believe they made something. So I kind of uh take people by handle I'm like, yes, today we are going to bake panettoni. And it can seem like a relatively complex recipe, and it is, but taking people step by step through that and then seeing the results at the end, and people are like, absolutely the sense of achievement. So, yeah, kind of success stories. I was having a look, some of the feedback I get, you know, people saying, Oh, it's time out each month, you know, they have to set aside that time if they want to come on the live class. So it kind of ensures that you've taken that time out for yourself, and also the confidence to try new recipes as well. So I get that a lot that perhaps they wouldn't have tried panettone or another kind of different type of bread without coming to the live classes. So getting that confidence and also the community. So hearing other people's stories, hearing about people, what they're baking at home, um having those questions. So maybe like over summer, I've talked about what I've been growing in my garden and talked about how might you put that into bread. So just like bringing people along with me and encouraging that community to grow. You know, like I said, it's a bit of a connection. So for me, those are the successes in the membership.

Speaker

So, what does the membership allow you to do or get that you wouldn't otherwise have had?

Speaker 1

I guess in terms of business, it is a recurring income month by month. Yes, I am producing content for that, but I also don't have to think too much about how that is happening. I just need to put myself as much as possible into the bread baking and making that as best as possible for my members. It has also allowed me to develop new skills. So I did with work with a website developer to build this site to host all of my membership content, but it's also allowed me to host all of my standalone classes as recorded classes. You can go on there and just take one class if you already have an account. You could then join the Bake House Club or take another class with me. So, in terms of getting people into my world and encouraging them to bake more bread, they can really start from very small level, you know, baking a delicious crusty white loaf and work up through. So I think for me it's really built in that kind of progression in my business to help people who really want to learn to bake bread at home.

Speaker

Do you still have a home bakery that you sold bread from?

Speaker 1

I don't. So the only people who are benefiting from my homemade bread are my family and friends. So yeah, I baked and sold bread from home until I had my first child, and then it was becoming a little bit impossible to work around. That's not to say it's not impossible, but because I'd started teaching and I absolutely love teaching, I decided to make that my focus and have the time away being in the live classes. But I think it's a fantastic thing to do, and you learn so much about baking bread if you decide to start selling it. So it certainly gave me a good grounding and also built kind of my profile as well.

Speaker

So what are your dreams and plans for your membership?

Speaker 1

It's for me, it's really building on that bread is connection. So being a leading platform for people who are really interested in bread baking at home and also having that love for sharing perhaps their food with other people. Um, so continuing to do the monthly classes and sharing recipes. You know, I'd like to build more for my members. For example, exploring discounts with suppliers like flour suppliers. I buy from a lot of independent and things like that. So that's something I'd really like to do is perhaps get some discounts so people can explore different ingredients and equipment if they'd really like to. But really just continuing to build it as that kind of leading portal and bringing people in and making it the best place possible if you want to learn about home bread baking.

Speaker

What advice would you give to somebody who's sitting on a membership idea and hasn't launched it yet for whatever reason?

Speaker 1

I think if you've already proven that your individual service, you know, attracts customers and you have people interested in whatever it is you're offering, then go for it because, you know, as I said, I already had people who are interested in the online classes. And so I put out this offer and it was very basic. So really don't worry about the tech if you're doing it online, but don't worry if only a couple of people turn up, because if you can make it the best for those people and get their feedback, and like I'm really keen on hearing people's feedback and working that into the membership. And also you can offer, say, for example, like a starter price or a beta price. And if people stay, then they can continue at that price, even if you end up putting it up, um, which you should. Don't start it on a tiny price, but really test it out and be really clear with people. Say, I want to see if this goes. I think, you know, I think we'll all benefit from this and you know, sage people how you think they all benefit from it, how it's gonna build on what you've already done with them. But yeah, be honest and bring people along for the journey with you.

Speaker

Well, thank you, Rhiannon. You've been a lovely guest, and I'm sure everybody watching is going to want to start making bread now. So we'd love to know how to find you. How do we join your membership? Where are you on social media? What's your website? Can you share the details? And I'll put them in the show notes as well.

Speaker 1

Yeah, absolutely. So if you want to find out more about the membership, go to thebakehouseclub.com and uh all the details will be on there, as well as my standalone classes. It starts from £15.99 per month as well, and you can cancel at any time. So if you really just want to come and find out a bit more, then go ahead. And my overall business is the Epsom Bakehouse. So if you search for the Epps and Bakehouse on any socials, you'll find me on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, and also the epsandbakehouse.co.uk if you want to see more about what I do. Thank you so much. Thank you.