Northampton father and son brownie baking duo bring home gold from Great British Entrepreneur awards

A Northampton father and son duo who have taken the country by storm with their bespoke brownies have brought home gold from a major award.

John and Leo Lashley from Brooklyn Brownie Co. have been named Great British Entrepreneurs of the Year for the Midlands after launching their business only a year ago.

In the summer of 2019, the duo started baking United States-inspired brownies from their kitchen to shipping their rich chocolately goods across the globe.

But after a crazy 12 months, and after thriving throughout the lockdown, John and Leo have risen above the rest and been recognised for their hard work at the awards last night (September 23), where they were also named Family Business Entrepreneurs of the Year.

John told the Chronicle & Echo: "This was a cool one to win. Our business has really ramped up in the last year and we've done some really crazy hours.

"You don't really get told 'job well done' when you work for yourself, but it's cool to get these awards. Me and Leo just looked at each other and said that people must really be taking us seriously."

John and Leo are now in the running for the national final of the Great British Entrepreneur Awards at a later date.

It's the latest win in the pair's rollercoaster of a year since launching the bakery last year out of their home kitchen.

Their brownies - with flavours inspired by US candy and colourful designs - took off though and soon they were being sold in shops and restaurants in the town.

The coronavirus came just as they were looking at moving into an industrial kitchen - instead they transformed their own kitchen with commercial-style ovens.

The orders did not slow down either and they even launched a limited edition Biscoff and brownie chocolate bar in collaboration with The Chocolate Smiths, based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

"It's been one hell of a rollercoaster with lockdown and everything else and the chocolate bar went insane, I think we shifted over 5,000 units in the end," John said.

"Those weeks were a real learning curve, to shift 12,000 brownies a week out of Northampton with the logistical issue while keeping customers happy and engaging with them, it's been a huge juggling act.

"I was going to bed at like 4am and Leo at around 1am just to make enough brownies.

"But it did us really well, the orders shot up and people started contacting us from the States, and places like Japan, it's a totally different demographic that opened up for us."

The Great British Entrepreneur Awards has shortlisted 550 entrepreneurs and 433 businesses across eight regions in 15 categories, including a new award to recognise those who adapted to the Covid-19 crisis.