22/05/2026
Pasta Classes at Olive 🫒 on Castle St., 2018 ✨💛
I’ve been speaking a lot recently about how Flour Will Fly started, so I thought it’d be nice to share this for newer followers to see where it all began. I know some of you have been following us for years now — and I’m so grateful you’re still here too ❤️
Looking back at these pictures, it feels like a simpler time in some ways, but harder in others. I had a full-time job back then and taught classes at weekends. Time absolutely flew during those days: we’d go in around 6:30/7am, set up for a 10am class, make a lot of flour fly everywhere, then have about 20 minutes to clean before the restaurant opened. It was always a bit of a mad rush, but somehow it never felt like too much effort.
I was firmly convinced the idea had legs, so I just kept pushing — for nearly two years working with local restaurants until we could finally afford our own place.
I’m a big believer in meaningful growth. I don’t believe a business is either constantly expanding or dying. I believe in improving and evolving. This might sound like something you read on LinkedIn, but if you’ve been to my classes in 2018, then again in 2026, you’ll know what I mean.
Over the years I’ve had investors waving money in my face wanting to help us grow, but Flour Will Fly has always felt deeply personal to me, and I think good things can sometimes be delicate and easy to break.
And, you wouldn’t believe the amount of people who tell me to open a second branch or franchise across the UK. Would it work? Honestly, I think it probably would. But it wouldn’t be the same. It wouldn’t be Flour Will Fly run by Paola, with the support of her mum and her family. When you enter our workshop, you’re entering our world, how the hell do you reproduce that authentically across the country? There’s no way.
I really believe in purpose, and in genuinely loving what you do for work, I think people can feel when something is built with care ❤️
