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Lickety Split’s cool Christmas

An award winning North East ice cream parlour is gearing up for a bumper Christmas just months after opening.

Lickety Split Creamery in Seaham, has taken on extra staff to cope with demand for its ice creams, milkshakes and other products.

The 50s-themed parlour is the creation of Cindy Bettcher, 57, a former contact centre worker. Cindy gave up her job to fulfil her dream and has received funding and support with her venture from Be Enterprising, County Durham’s Local Enterprise Growth Initiative (LEGI).

With queues regularly stretching out of the doors, Cindy has quickly expanded her team and is anticipating a busy first Christmas.

Cindy said: “I couldn’t have predicted things would go as well as they have. It’s been fantastic since we opened and we’ve regularly had queues out of the doors most weekends down Seaham sea front.

“It was always my ambition to expand but I hadn’t really anticipated taking on new recruits at such an early stage.”

Cindy received support in setting up and expanding her business from Be Enterprising which was able to offer advice on her business plan and grant funding to help with her set up costs in the early months.

To add to Lickety Split’s success it was recently recognised in the East Durham Business Awards, winning the Best Business Idea award and also being named Best New Business.

Sam Sowemimo, Cindy’s Be Enterprising coach said: “Cindy came to us with a really strong and impressive vision for Lickety Split and we were delighted to help. The business has all the elements Be Enterprising aims to encourage. It’s a viable enterprise, is sustainable, combats unemployment and is having a major impact on the community, both in terms of the income and employment opportunities it is generating.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .