What began as a short-term teaching job in London led to a transatlantic move and a growing baking business on the Isle of Man for Andrea Hollis – better known to customers as Miss Maple.

Originally from Canada, Andrea arrived in the UK to teach French through an agency. But within weeks of arriving, her plans changed when she met her future husband, a student from the Isle of Man.

‘When we decided to get married and start a family, we had to figure out where to settle,’ she said. ‘All his family were over here, so we made the move – and we haven’t looked back since.’

After settling on the island, Andrea focused on family life. She had always enjoyed baking and was known for bringing homemade treats to social gatherings.

‘I’ve always grown up baking with my mum in the kitchen, and it wasn’t until I had children that someone said to me, “You should sell these – these are amazing”,’ she said.

‘Something kind of clicked. I thought, well, why not? Why couldn’t I sell them? So I started a business in 2018 just after my first, mainly doing celebration cakes to begin with. Then it just kind of grew from there.’

Her business stepped up when she began supplying baked goods exclusively to Robinsons following the closure of Shoprite last February. To date, Robinsons sells around 400 packs of Miss Maple cookies weekly.

‘Robinsons was looking to support locally as much as they could, and they wanted someone to provide baked goods in store. It was kind of right place, right time,’ she said. ‘I got in touch with the person that controls what’s on the shelves, brought in some samples, and within two weeks, I had a launch there with my cookies. It’s kind of escalated from there, really.’

The brand name Miss Maple is a nod to Andrea’s Canadian roots, with the maple leaf long recognised as a national symbol.

Andrea specialises in gourmet cookies, known for their unique flavour combinations not often found in Manx shops.

‘I know some of the flavours might be a little unusual to people over here – that would be my Canadian background coming through, just flavours that I kind of like and want to try.’

As demand has grown, Andrea has outgrown her home kitchen and has applied for planning permission to open a dedicated baking space in Onchan.

The planning application for the new venture says: ‘With volume of bakery items increasing, along with amount of ingredients and packaging required to be stored, there is now a much-needed requirement to have a dedicated production space for this growing business.

‘With a properly fitted-out kitchen, this will allow work to progress more efficiently and scale up production to meet growing demand.’

Andrea explained: ‘The plan is to mainly have a kitchen for me to bake in, because I’ve outgrown my home kitchen.

‘Along with that, I want a bit of retail space in the front – it’ll be a collection point for customers, and I’ll be hosting occasional pop-ups.’

Describing the experience as a whirlwind, Andrea said she has no plans to stop baking any time soon.

The application will be considered by planners in due course.