It started as a hobby and is now an award-winning business powered by a fantastic family team spirit.

Nina Budwal has owned Sals Desserts in Paddock for three years which has just been named the Best Dessert Shop in West Yorkshire at the Englands Business Awards.

But the 25-year-old is quick to pay tribute to mum Salinder and dad Lakbir who have backed her all the way and helped her to make the business such a success.

Nina said: “I wouldn’t be where I am today without their ongoing love and support and Sals Desserts is named in honour of my mum. It was a real surprise for her. She didn’t know I’d done it until she saw the sign.

“My dad used to run an off-licence and helped me to transform the shop into what it is today and is always there to help me.”

Nina set the business up on Luck Lane at Paddock Head just as Covid struck but managed to keep going by doing deliveries. Since then the business has gone from strength to strength, building up a loyal fanbase of customers who nominated her for the award and then voted for her to win.

“I can’t thank them enough,” said Nina. “I never thought we’d win so it was absolutely amazing when we did.”

 

 

The family live in Almondbury and Nina attended Royds Hall High and then Huddersfield New College before studying for a degree in Biomedical Science at Leeds Beckett University while running her own home baking business. This began with family and friends as customers but soon spread through word of mouth to the general public.

Nina said: “I love science so the biomedical sciences was a back-up in case my dream to set up and run my own desserts business didn’t take off. I always knew I wanted to work for myself and enjoy what I was doing but never thought about baking until I did food technology at Royds Hall.

“Within a couple of lessons I knew that was it for me … that’s what I wanted to do as a business.”

Nina is putting her heart, soul and an incredible amount of time into the business which now has three staff and is open seven days a week from 3pm to 11pm Monday to Thursday and from 3pm to midnight on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

 

 

 

People come from far and wide with Nina getting customers who have seen the business online from as far away as Birmingham, Hull, York, Leeds and Manchester.

It’s a big place inside with 80 seats and Sals Desserts hosts birthday parties for children and sweet-toothed adults along with Halloween and Christmas parties. Some firms have even had work events there.

Nina can also do outside catering, is also on Just Eat and sends her desserts all over the UK.

She said: “We tried opening during the day but it didn’t really work so now we start just before schools finish for the day so children can pop in for an after school treat and then throughout the evening people come for a dessert after they’ve eaten or just to give themselves a real treat.”

The menu includes churros with ice-cream and cream, chocolate fudge cake with custard, Lotus Biscoff milkshakes, Ferrero Rocher brownies and doughnuts with absolutely any topping you can imagine.

Nina’s own favourite is her strawberry passion chocolate waffle that features Nutella and fresh strawberries.

Winning the title of Best Dessert Shop in West Yorkshire 2024 means Nina now goes forward into the national final for the title Best Dessert Shop in the UK.

To see her Nina’s full range of desserts and for more information go to https://www.salsdesserts.com/ and she’s also on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/salsdesserts/

Written by ANDY HIRST who runs his own Yorkshire freelance journalism agency AH! PR (https://ah-pr.com/) specialising in press releases, blogging, website content and copywriting.