An Aberystwyth entrepreneur has closed cafés across Wales after receiving mixed TripAdvisor reviews, but remains “confident” for the future.

Alana Spencer, the baking entrepreneur behind Ridiculously Rich, opened a bakery and shop on Glan yr Afon Industrial Estate in 2019 and went on to open a dessert bar near Aberystwyth Harbour early in 2020.

After the success of both of these ventures, Alana decided to “very ambitiously” open a further three stores, in Cardiff, Caernarfon, and Llandudno, within a short space of time in 2021

However, the Cardiff and Caernarfon branches have now had to close their doors, with the Llandudno branch opening just for coffee and cake, after “disheartening” TripAdvisor reviews.

Alana said “mistakes” had been made which had led to the closure: “We very ambitiously opened four stores in the last year, we opened the Aberystwyth one first and it was a real success, which was really lovely to see.

“So we wanted to replicate that around Wales and bring that sort of excitement and joy we brought to Aberystwyth to other towns in Wales.

“The way the negotiation of the leases fell we ended up with them all in very close proximity, Cardiff and Llandudno were within two weeks of each other, and Caernarfon followed shortly after.

“In short, we didn’t have enough time in between stores to get everything perfectly nailed down.

“Quite a few mistakes were made in terms of not giving enough training. That coupled with the fact that there is not enough people that want to work in the hospitality industry at the moment meant we also had a shortage of staff.”

Since opening, Ridiculously Rich in Llandudno has suffered mixed TripAdvisor reviews, with it ranking last out of 132 restaurants on TripAdvisor on the weekend of 6 November.

As of 11 November, the Llandudno café had moved up to 114th.

Alana said: “Nobody wants that, nobody goes into opening a café with those expectation. But it’s also been sad for my team in Llandudno, they worked really hard.

“I’ve looked back through the TripAdvisor reviews and a lot of them are valid and we have listened to them. But a lot of them are things we can’t change, for example saying we’ve chosen the wrong location.

“It felt like the end of the world when it first happened, but really diving into it, it’s easier to rectify than I thought.”

While Alana’s long-term goal of growing Ridiculously Rich to a national brand have not changed, she said they have to “slow down”.

Alana has now hired an area manager and implemented a “better structure” to management.

The team have put together a training pack, as well as training videos, to show staff “exactly how everything is made”.

The managers of each branch will be brought to Aberystwyth for training and Alana said there will be better communication between the headquarters and the cafés going forward.

Ridiculously Rich have now launched their Christmas range of drinks and cakes, with the hope that the three branches can reopen fully before Christmas.