Catching up with the parents of Coosh, four years on…
On the 20th of August, Coosh celebrated its fourth birthday. To mark this momentous occasion, this week Lottie speaks to Rachel and Tom to look back on their journey so far, the lessons they’ve learned along the way and what the future might hold for our little artisanal home.
Oh Coosh. What began as the infectiously wild dreams of a sourdough obsessed couple has transformed into the bakery we know and love today. Four years on, this team of two has turned into a team of twenty – with eight dedicated bakers, two front of house queens and a legendary clean down crew who all work tirelessly to keep our magnificent ship sailing.
Early on Friday, Lottie took a stroll to the original stomping grounds of Coosh to speak to Mum and Dad (aka Rach and Tom Egan) about how this mad journey all began. Despite our conversation being regularly interrupted by defecating cats and subsequent manic incense burning by Tom – I had a fabulous time. As someone who accidentally ended up carving out a career for myself at Coosh, I found it fascinating to learn about the inception of the bakery, the proudest achievements of our parents and to gain insight into the wonderful wisdom and willpower that makes Coosh so distinctly unique and special…
As Coosh approaches its fourth year of business, what does a typical day in the life at the bakery look like now?
Tom: From an outside point of view, I feel like there’s less trauma and fewer meltdowns. For example, when all the fridges were breaking down recently during the heatwave – obviously that was a big problem - but a few years ago something like that would have felt hugely difficult. We would have obsessed over the expense and the fact that we were losing so much money. Now we’re in a position where we can take the rough with the smooth.
Rachel: To be honest, in a lot of ways, our day-to-day feels quite similar because we still push ourselves in the same way we always have. I don’t think we’d ever be like, “Okay, that’s enough now, let’s just stop.” But there is definitely more ease now. We have more scope to let things go and take a more relaxed approach. There are no real traditions here – we just do what we can. I think we’ve basically messed up enough stuff that whatever gets messed up, we’ve probably messed it up before.
How has Coosh evolved over the past four years, in ways you potentially didn’t expect when you first started?
Rachel: We have 20 staff members. I remember when we first started, I was frightened of employing someone because of the responsibility that requires. I never imagined we would have employed anyone, let alone 20 people and working within an effectively 24 hour operation now – that is crazy to me.
Tom: From the business side of things, that is a tricky question to answer. I suppose traditionally, we have grown as a business if you look in terms of sales, turnover [“FRIENDSHIPS” Rachel eagerly butted in], etc. When we first opened we were growing rapidly, almost doubling our profit each year. But over the past two years we haven’t been able to evolve as much due to our limited space, which is not through want of trying.
Rachel: I remember for ages we discussed what the “bottleneck” of Coosh could be [the bottleneck theory is the idea that within a business, there is often one particular constraint that limits growth, causing development to stagnate — similar to how the neck of a bottle restricts the speed in which liquid can flow]. We soon realised that space was the problem. There were only so many people we could hire, equipment we could buy or products we could make before we reached our capacity. It has become the ultimate bottleneck, as we literally can’t fit in anymore people or machinery into the bakery. It has become our glass ceiling.
I am also surprised that Tom is still involved [Tom looks surprised]. The first night we opened in our kitchen, the plan was that I would do it all – but Tom was so excited that he couldn’t sleep, so he came down at 11 p.m. and decided to help out. That automatically turned into every single day until we began to hire more staff. I always think it’s quite funny that Tom could do a proper oven shift in a bakery – there is no better expert on the bagels than Tom Egan [Tom’s surprise turns to subtle smugness]. When we first spoke about opening Coosh, it was never intended as an opportunity to start a business together – we did not plan this, it’s almost like we got accidentally pregnant.
If you could go back to the day we opened and give your younger selves - baby Rach and Tom - one piece of advice, what would it be?
Rachel: Trust. Your. Gut. No one lives the experience of Coosh like we do, so obviously they won’t care about it or understand it to the same level. It is your personality that has made the business the way it is, it has been moulded around you, and that is why it is so important to always trust your gut – don’t allow yourself to be discouraged.
Tom: I would add that I think what we do is unique. Many people who work within the broader spectrum of hospitality will have an opinion on how a business should be ran. But an artisan bakery, where everything is made from scratch, is a very niche area of the hospitality sector. So it is important to remember that even though everyone has their own opinions, no one has their own facts.
What is your favourite thing about Coosh, and what are you most proud of achieving?
Tom: The team. Always. I am really proud of how low our staff turnover is and the approach we take in helping our employees grow and develop their careers – something which is apparently quite rare within hospitality roles.
Rachel: One of the things I feel the most proud about, is when I watch our staff members achieve huge milestones like buying their first house, or learning to drive. It is an amazing feeling to know that we have paid someone’s wages, and they have gone and done something that will benefit them from the rest of their life with that.
Also, I don’t know whether this is a pride thing, but when I speak to people who I have been friends with for a lot longer than I have known the team at Coosh, I always think: isn’t it funny when someone says they are going to do something, and then they just … go and do it?
Tom: Yeah nobody's ever interested in my software career, not that they were to begin with, they just want to hear about the bakery!
On the harder days, what keeps you motivated and gives you the same drive you had when you first started the business?
Rachel: Literally just the process of shaping dough whilst being surrounded by your friends. That is what I always used to love doing – hanging out with mates and cooking. And now that's my job, which is great for me, but it also keeps me going. Don’t get me wrong, there are definitely days when I can’t be arsed to get out of bed at 1am – but it would be impossible to do it if I didn’t love it.
Tom: I read an analogy recently that compared owning a hospitality business to the placement of salt and pepper shakers on the table of a restaurant: they’re always going to be moved around, but it’s your job to keep putting them back in the centre, where they need to be. That stuck with me because it applies to so many things — the people, the processes. The salt and pepper shakers are never going to stay exactly where they should all the time, but it’s your job to keep putting them back on track, and eventually things come good. Even when we’ve had a bad week, it’s important to step back and look at the bigger picture. On the whole, we’re still winning. I remind myself to keep going, to put things right again and to always try to fix things.
Rachel: I am also very aware that Tom Egan just let me ditch my previous job to be able to pursue this. That was quite major. The fact that someone would do that to make me happy was a massive shock to me. I remember writing about it in my personal statement for SAF [The School of Artisan Food] – Tom said to me that it would change my life if I was happy in my job, and he was right. I never feel frightened to go into work anymore which is mental – it is a revolution. It’s like a wise man named Homer Simpson once said, f*** it, "I’m going to clown college”.
What is your biggest ambition for Coosh, what does the future hold for the business?
Tom: I don’t think we’ve made any secret of this, once again, we are just looking for more space. We have so much more to give don’t we?
Rachel: We want to open a café, we want to use the bread and products we make as the basis for good food. Having a bigger space will give us so much more scope to allow us to lift our community even further. We have such a fantastic high street, it would be brilliant to see if we could try and make it even better – to make Mapperley a bit of a destination spot, encouraging even more custom to all the other fantastic shops we have on our doorstep. You know how if you wanted a drink outside of town, you would probably go to West Bridgford? Well, I want it to be that you would come to Mapperley for brunch. That feels really exciting to me.
And just like that, the interview was drawn to a close. You must admit that these two are pretty inspirational; the world is full of dreamers, but there are few people who actually have the courage (and insanity) to turn that dream into a reality. With so many more birthdays to come, our future is feeling bright – and I am so glad I get to come along for the ride.
Lottie Clark 21/08/2026