Nation.Cymru Staff
The owner of a popular Welsh cake business has publicly called out a series of racist comments directed at his staff on social media, defending his employees and telling those responsible that they are not welcome.
“I love each and every one of them and I wouldn’t change them for the world,” said Adam, known online as ‘The Welsh Cake Man’, as he defended employees who had been targeted by racist comments.
Adam runs Cardiff Bakestones, a Welsh cake stall in Cardiff Market, and documents behind-the-scenes moments at the business, interactions with customers, and insights from small-business life.
However, after a humorous video in which Adam asked his staff whether they prefer margarine or butter attracted what he described as “some of the most disgusting comments” he had ever seen, he decided to respond publicly rather than simply delete them.
In a video shared across social media, he read out a series of comments questioning the ethnicity of his employees and challenged those responsible, defending his team’s right to work at the business.
Adam explained: “A lot of businesses who have moderators would delete these comments, but that’s just letting them get away with it.
“We’re not going to let these disgusting human beings get away with it. We’re going to call each and every one of these vile people out.”
Responding to a comment that ‘There [sic] called Welsh cakes not Chinese cakes’, Adam clarified that the business uses local producers and suppliers, and that it “doesn’t matter who’s making them”.
He continued: “I’ve got a fantastic team here, who I’m extremely proud of. And I wouldn’t be so proud of your body if I was you. I would delete your profile picture because you are an embarrassment. Get down in the gym. You need a few Welsh cakes to get the bulk up a bit.”
Other comments questioned ‘Why is everyone Asian?’, ‘So he couldn’t find any Welsh staff to make Welsh cakes?’, and ‘Why are they all Chinese?’.
“We have plenty of Welsh staff here, thank you very much. Most of our staff are British,” Adam said. “We ain’t prejudiced here.”
“If we think you’re suitable for this job, and you prove to us that you’re hard working and you’ve got a right to work here, then we’ve got a right to hire you. And if you don’t like it, people like you, we actually don’t want you buying your Welsh cakes here.”
Later in the video, he continued: “You’ll actually see our foreign staff are a minority here. Yes, we have a few of them here… Four in total out of 15 staff. That’s a minority.
“So, your opinion counts for nothing. You’re a pathetic individual. We never want to see you at Cardiff Bakestones.”
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‘Is that a Chinese takeaway?’ another commenter asked, to which Adam replied, “Terry, you probably live on Chinese takeaways, mate.”
The Welsh Cake Man asked his followers whether he should get a moderator to delete such comments, or “continually address them and call these individuals out?”
He finished by saying: “I am super proud of our team. They are some of the greatest, most hardworking people that I’ve ever come across.”
Commenters praised Adam for coming to his staff members’ defence, with one writing: “It’s vile behaviour. I couldn’t care less who makes them because they clearly do a stunning job.”
Another added: “Always pop to Bakestones when I’m in Cardiff. Best Welsh cakes going. Glad to see they’re standing up for what’s right in these troubled times.”
Cardiff Bakestones was set up in 2001 in Pontypridd by Welsh-Egyptian baker and entrepreneur Jamal El Tagoury and his wife Gaynor, before they moved into Cardiff Market. They now also have locations at Merthyr Indoor Market and Trago Mills in Merthyr Tydfil.
They use a recipe passed down through Gaynor’s family, and cook the Welsh cakes on traditional bakestones “exactly as they used to be made in every Welsh home many years ago.”
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