The Cake Solution

The Cake Solution relies on Worldpay for multichannel capabilities, increased auth rates, reduced fraud and faster transaction times

The Cake Solution (TCS) is a British-owned cake franchise brand, relaunching the legacy of The Cheesecake Shop in the U.K.

Crafted with care in their Nottingham bakery, TCS offers more than 40 varieties of the finest quality celebration cakes and cheesecakes. Their creative delights reach customers through retail stores, online ordering, franchise locations, concessions, wholesale partners and nationwide delivery.

TCS serves a diverse range of customers – from families celebrating life’s milestones, to businesses seeking premium cakes, to cafés in need of dependable wholesale partners – all united by a desire for beautifully handcrafted creations, custom designs, consistent quality and prompt, friendly service.

A well-known and beloved brand in the Midlands, TCS continues to grow nationally with stores in Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and the West Midlands.

Pain points that needed to be alleviated

Neil Blakeman is the managing director at TCS, and he explains the biggest previous payment challenges that the business faced.

“As we scaled up – especially during the post-COVID resurgence – we ran into fragmented payment systems, unreliable authorizations, fraud vulnerability and a very clunky onboarding process for our franchisees. These issues slowed down our operations and added unnecessary friction for both our staff and customers. We needed to fix all that – and quickly.”

Worldpay’s multichannel payments expertise

A Worldpay customer since 2021, Neil discloses that TCS needed a unified, scalable solution that could effectively manage payments made online and in-store.

“We wanted fast, secure processing, real-time reporting, fraud prevention and an infrastructure flexible enough to grow alongside our franchise network,” he says. “Driven by their demonstrated multichannel payments capabilities, large U.K. footprint, strong brand reputation and proven ability to handle both scale and speed, we made the change to Worldpay and haven’t looked back.”

Impressive results achieved

Neil is quick to share all the significant business improvements TCS has made.

“With Worldpay, our authorization success rate is up by 3-4%, our fraud rates and chargebacks have been significantly reduced, in-store transaction times have been cut by approximately 30% and we now have a simplified, multiple site setup for new franchises. Further, we’ve achieved notable operational savings from platform consolidation, and we’re positioned for rapid growth across 2025 and beyond with a highly scalable payments system already in place.”

Implementation and support are also important factors

Commenting on his implementation experience, Neil observes, “Worldpay provided us with clear steps regarding technical onboarding, franchise training and support throughout – it was a very smooth and guided process. The overall setup was fast and caused us minimal disruption.”

As far as the ongoing support TCS receives, Neil offers equal praise. “Worldpay helped us unify our payments landscape. Their support team is responsive and proactive, which allows us to focus on growing our brand and not having to manage technical payment headaches.

“Further, our day-to-day Worldpay relationship manager is outstanding – always available and very knowledgeable. We’re regularly apprised of the latest payment trends.”

Final observations

In closing, Neil readily notes, “Working with Worldpay has been a game-changer for us. Their solutions are reliable, intuitive and growth-ready. And, their people are supportive, strategic and genuinely fully invested in our success. You can’t ask for much more than that.”

At a glance

Objective

Find a new multichannel payments solution that can manage transactions online, in-store and on mobile devices.

Worldpay solutions

SMB Payments Capabilities; Integrated Payments; Fraud Prevention; Worldpay eCommerce

Impact

• Operational savings
• Higher authorization rates
• Decreased fraud
• Proactive support

“With Worldpay, our authorization success rate is up by 3-4%, our fraud rates and chargebacks have been significantly reduced and in-store transaction times have been cut by approximately 30%."

Neil Blakeman, Managing Director, The Cake Solution

Note: Not all products, solutions or capabilities mentioned in our client stories are available in all geographic regions. Please consult your relationship manager or customer care (existing customers) or sales (prospects) for more information.