Oldham play cafe backs 11-year-old baker's sweet ambitions

An Oldham play cafe is helping an 11-year-old entrepreneur expand his startup after discovering the young baker’s cookies on social media.

Baby Bear's Play Cafe reached out to support Carter Sinnott, an 11-year-old from Oldham, after owner Lauren Grimes saw a social media post from Carter’s mum. Within days, the cafe placed an order for nearly 30 cookies from Carter's venture, Cookie Kingdom. 
 
Since launching in May, Carter has produced more than 100 cookies, each packaged in branded boxes with allergy information and a logo he designed. The business, managed by his mum on Instagram, is now expanding its reach through the cafe’s customer base. Carter plans to use the revenue to purchase a laptop to better manage the growing business. 
 
Lauren Grimes, owner of Baby Bear's Play Cafe, said: "We want to support Carter and help raise awareness of his business by selling his cookies here. We want to champion other local businesses, but particularly young people. We know how difficult it is for them to gain work experience and the future of the job market looks challenging. To be able to support someone like Carter at the age of 11 is fantastic." 
 
Carter said: "I'm really excited that more people will try my cookies now. Seeing people actually buying them feels amazing. I'm so proud." 
 
The cafe is encouraging the community to support the venture by following Cookie Kingdom on Instagram.