Last week, our Year 13 BTEC Business class were warmly welcomed by Sponge in Holt for an inside look at the company’s Marketing and Production functions.

The visit was led by Mark Joll (OG 1982–1991 (T)) and Marketing Director Natalie Douglas. Ahead of the trip, pupils researched the business and its recent successes, including Sponge’s gold medal at Britain’s Best Cake 2025 for its vegan chocolate caramel fudge cake.

After sharing a brief history, Mark and Natalie outlined Sponge’s business and marketing aims before taking pupils on a tour of the bakery. A group discussion followed, focusing on recent marketing developments, particularly the move toward greater product personalisation for gifting. The standout innovation was a new QR-code feature that lets gift senders upload personalised video messages, an idea pupils hope to reference in their external exam in January. The visit came at a great time, as it provided real-world insight for this upcoming assessment that requires pupils to create a full marketing plan based on a case study released just 24 hours before the exam.

Pupils were fascinated by the state-of-the-art production facilities, watching cakes and brownies move from mixing to packing and postal dispatch. They were struck by the rigorous separation of gluten-free production to maintain Coeliac UK accreditation.

It was hard not to build up an appetite during the tour, with so many delicious sights and smells. All were particularly delighted with the Legends Brownie Box they each received, printed off in a customised Gresham’s box, thanking them for the visit!

We are extremely grateful to Sponge and their team for such a warm welcome, and especially to Mark and Natalie for providing a truly valuable and inspiring visit.