World Cake Day with Ceris Davis

World Cake Day is a festivity most would enjoy recognising! From birthdays to Christmas to Shrove Tuesday, cakes of all kinds are synonymous with celebration. So, as we congratulate our NHS staff tonight and commemorate VE Day tomorrow, Ceris Davis offers a slice of her life as part of one of the many cake making companies that help to make our celebrations extra special.

Ceris is a third year BSc (Hons) Agri-Food Marketing with Business student, undertaking her placement year with Sidoli, a desserts company based in Welshpool. While Ceris doesn’t bake the cakes, she has the exciting task of promoting Sidoli’s products. She said: “My role within the company is mainly the marketing and sales side, where I had the opportunity to visit customers and attend exhibitions up until early Spring.

“In my role, I am responsible for being a customer facing member of staff which has led me to gaining a great amount of confidence whilst doing so. Interacting with co-workers and meeting new potential customers has improved my communication skills and self confidence greatly. My role varies from day to day, which keeps my job exciting and involves working on new projects continuously.”

While no two days are the same for Ceris, she shared what some of her daily tasks incorporate: “One of my daily jobs is to design adverts for our various customers for them to use in their food brochures; this is a great way to promote Sidoli and our products.

“A bigger project was designing the new 2020 product guide. I thoroughly enjoyed doing this as I love the design process. The product guide is a great way to promote our various types of products from loaf cakes to cheesecakes. I also designed our 2020 banner stands which promote all our new products.”

Ceris also explained her contribution to one of the overarching projects during her placement year: “The launch of the new website was a major project for me as it was a completely new experience. Being able to work closely with an external web design company to ensure the website portrayed a true picture of Sidoli was an experience and will be of great help to me in my future career.”

Although her time at Sidoli has been cut short due to Covid-19, Ceris has had an excellent year. She said: “My experience at Sidoli has been amazing and I have had the opportunity to work with a lot of friendly people that have helped me along the way and have encouraged me to reach my full potential.

“The experience of being able to represent Sidoli at exhibitions for the catering industry has been one of the highlights; I never thought I would have the confidence to engage with potential customers and promote Sidoli’s products. The opportunity for networking with other like-minded marketing staff at other companies during exhibitions was a great opportunity to gain an insight into the world of food marketing.”

With this experience, Ceris is keen to continue working within the marketing and sales side of the food industry. Her manager, Sophie Sidoli, commented: “Following Ceris’s extremely successful placement at Sidoli, that we have indicated to Ceris that we would very much like to welcome her back to Sidoli if she so wishes in the future to work as part of our fabulous Sales and Marketing team. Ceris has slotted in ever so well in a relatively short period of time, and we wish her all the best. She is going to fly and fingers crossed it may be with us!”

As a third year student, Ceris is looking forward to coming back to campus to complete her studies before continuing on the career path that inspires her. She commented: “Being at Harper has opened many doors for me for the future. I had a lot of support from placement tutors that helped me look for a placement that would suit me.

“Everyone at Harper Adams is very helpful and wants the best for you. With a wide range of degrees to choose from, there is something here for everyone. Harper gives all students a variety of opportunities within their courses, extra curricular activities, accommodation and any extra support you may need.

“The Harper community is a great one and my time here has definitely flown by. Coming from an agricultural part of Wales, the strong Welsh community in the Harper Cymru club definitely made university feel more like a home away from home. Although we are currently apart, and our plans to get together at the summer ball have been cancelled, we are looking forward to meeting up again at the start of our final year!”

Ceris makes her work look like a piece of cake! If you’re inspired by her work, and are interested in studying a food or business degree, Harper can offer you a degree that truly matters to the industry. Want to speak to a current student about their experience? Click the button below!

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