A Korean-inspired Lake District toastie business is thriving thanks to TikTok.
Luke Willis, 30, of Windermere, first opened the unique cafe last April – but had no idea it would go viral a few months later.
The eatery was recommended in a TikTok video made by The Yorkshireman and quickly gained over 400,000 views and praise from people across the UK.
Several other foodie TikTokers have also reviewed the cafe since its first appearance on the social media platform – which has only added to the venue’s popularity.
Luke said: “We didn’t know anything about it initially, they just showed up and did some videos and it just blew up.
“It has massively affected our business, since that first video went viral we have been getting people coming from all over the country to try our sandwiches, which is a bit scary really.
“It’s been crazy to be honest, we didn’t really slow down much over the winter at all and now it’s tourist season it’s even more busy.”
Toast is one of the only places in Cumbria serving toasties made from Japanese shokupan bread – which is baked fresh in the cafe every morning.
Luke added: “It’s a massive thing in South Korea and there’s places that do it in Los Angeles, Australia and Amsterdam but I wanted to bring it to the UK and give the Lake District something a bit different.
“This is my first business I’ve run on my own and I’ve been in the industry working in pub, hotel and cafe management for 10 years. So when this place came up, I decided to take the leap.”
While the toastie’s on offer are large – the menu at Toast is small, which Luke said was important for the business.
Sandwich types include kimcheese, which includes kimchi, Korean chicken, Reuben and an egg ‘sando’. The cafe also features different coffee brands each month alongside a range of pastries and a french toast.
He said: “In terms of coming up with the menu, we took big inspiration from South Korea and a big company called Eggdrop, who do a similar thing, but I wanted to change it.
“They’re an amazing company but they do quite simple fillings so I wanted to change that. But we’ve also got a really small menu, so we have five normal sandwiches and a french toast.
“I just like messing around with ideas, and we’ve got a great little team of enthusiastic people who come up with flavour ideas and we just have fun with it.
“I wanted to keep it simple because we’re a small site and all of our produce comes from local farmers an stuff, so we have to be careful with how much we order so we make sure we have enough.
“We do tend to sell out everyday and our most popular is our Korean shredded chicken, it just flies out.”
Toast is currently run by Luke and two other members of staff and alongside the cafe the team also do pop up events with other local businesses.
He said: “We’re a small team and of course every angle of hospitality has its chance to be stressful, but I think we’ve created a really nice atmosphere here.
“We’ve got two big sharing tables set up and it’s great because customers will start talking to each other whether they know each other or not.
“Obviously one of our big highlights was going viral, but a couple of months in we also ticked off the 1,000 loaves of bread made milestone and we do a lot of pop ups as well, which is a huge part of the business.
“It’s something I absolutely love doing, and I’ve got a great relationship with Lakes Brew Co. who we do stuff with quite often.”
Luke added that he had learnt a lot during his first 16 months managing his own business.
He said: “I’ve definitely learnt a lot, and there were a lot of hiccups and I’m sure I made lots of mistakes along the way. But one of the main things I learnt is to just do it and be there as much as you can and not to be afraid to go and trust your team so you can step back and push the business forward.
“I think it’s about not so much working the business, but running it, I think that’s important.
@the.yorkshireman Still dreaming about these gorgeous shokupan toasties we stumbled upon in Windermere 🤌 Worth queueing for! 🙌 Toast, Windermere 📍 #windermere #lakewindermere #lakedistrict #cumbria #lakedistrict_uk #lakedistrictfood #windermerefood ♬ PROBLEMZ – Jungle
“We’ve got an amazing food scene in Cumbria and we’re spoilt for it around here now. I think it’s only going to get better the more Michelin stars we get and in the next five years I reckon there will be a massive change in the food on offer in Cumbria.
“But I really like Windermere, I’ve lived here nine nearly 10 years and there’s a really good mix of people here. We’ve got some amazing regulars too who help keep us going, so I can’t thank the local community enough really.”
Luke said Toast would love to explore expansion opportunities in the future, but that they plan to keep the focus on their cafe while they’re still enjoying the early days.
