Terry Pegler, the man behind Terry Bakes in Norwich, is turning to social media to whip up enough money to tackle his backlog of mystery boxes.
The baker has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers across his social media platforms, where he posts videos of him baking cakes and brownies.
In one of his latest videos, he said: “On the fifteenth of each month, I get paid on TikTok. Every penny I earn, through the views I get on TikTok I will put towards sending your boxes out .”
He assured his viewers he would be sharing how much money he earns through his content and how many boxes he can subsequently send out.
He added: “So the views I get on here are important. I don’t expect anything from anyone but please if you can like, share and comment. That will really help get my views up and help get more money to get more boxes out.”
Last month, Mr Pegler trigger a backlash after announcing that he would not be fulfilling existing orders and instead told customers to get chargebacks – a payment reversal initiated by a customer’s bank when they dispute a card transaction – as he could not issue refunds.
Customers have since turned to Trading Standards to investigate the baker, which says it has received more than a dozen complaints involving Mr Pegler’s business.
The controversy surrounding Terry Bakes has also attracted attention from a number of online baking celebrities, some of whom have offered to help Mr Pegler’s out of pocket customers.
Two bakers, Bakes by Alice and Rita’s Cakes and Bakes, are among the many who have also offered help those customers buy sending out some of their own mystery boxes for free.
Using TikTok to make money
Influencers can earn money from TikTok in a number of ways. The platform may pay creators through its Creator Rewards programme, which is based on the social media company’s video performances.
Many influencers also make money from sponsored posts, where brands pay them to promote products to their followers.
Data suggest creators with around one million followers can earn anything from a part-time income to a six-figure annual sum, depending on how actively they monetise their audience.
However experts in the industry have highlighted the difficulty in basing an influencer’s income purely on face-value metrics.
