The Voice UK apologises after asking bakery for free cakes

Rich Myers runs Get Baked, an independent bakery with shops in Manchester and London, and a production facility in Leeds. In July, he received an email from The Voice UK asking whether his business could supply cakes and other baked goods for the show's judges, coaches, and contestants—at no cost. The email, sent by staff at Lifted Entertainment (the production company behind the ITV show), explained that while the network could not offer payment, the food would be consumed by "highly influential" people involved in the program. Myers, 37, was initially unsure whether the request was genuine. Once he confirmed it was, he felt something between anger and disbelief.

He decided to share the email on Instagram, describing the request as a "kick in the teeth" to small businesses and calling the entire arrangement a "total disgrace." His frustration wasn't primarily about the money—a single day's catering for a green room might have cost around £100 and fed 20 to 25 people. Rather, it was about what the request represented: a large corporation leveraging its name and the promise of exposure to extract free goods from a struggling independent business. Myers had been running Get Baked for 15 years without ever giving away products for free, he said. Even his A-list celebrity clients had never asked for complimentary cakes.

The core of Myers's complaint centered on what he calls "gifting culture"—the expectation that small businesses should donate their products and labor in exchange for visibility. He told the BBC that the wording of the email was "absolutely abysmal," though he did not blame the individual who sent it. The language about "very high calibre of talent" enjoying the food, as if that alone justified the request, struck him as particularly tone-deaf. "Putting it backstage for someone to eat, as if that results in exposure, means nothing to anyone," he said. He also noted that other independent businesses had received similar requests from The Voice, suggesting this was not an isolated incident but part of a broader pattern.

Myers acknowledged that newer small business owners might be more vulnerable to such requests. When an email arrives with "ITV" in the signature, the temptation to say yes—to imagine the exposure, the prestige, the potential customers—can be overwhelming. But he argued that large companies should know better. They have budgets. They can pay for catering. The fact that they ask for free goods anyway speaks to a casual disregard for the economics of small business.

Lifted Entertainment responded quickly with an apology. A spokesperson told the BBC that the request was "not in line with their usual way of working" and that "immediate steps have been taken to ensure this type of request is never made again." The company also said it was reaching out to Myers directly. Myers said it would be a "massive win" if this incident actually led to the end of such requests from The Voice to independent businesses. But he remained cautiously skeptical. "Time will tell," he added, suggesting that an apology and a promise, while welcome, would need to be backed by sustained change in how the production company treats small suppliers.