CONFESSIONS of a doughnut maker; Ben Rogers has been a Dinky Donuts licensee for the last two years. The 28-year-old lives in Llanishen, Cardiff, with his fiancee Katie.

Q How did you become involved in the doughnut trade? A I started out with a friend of mine, a teacher who was fed up, at the time, of his job. I had just finished a business degree at the University of Glamorgan and was looking to get involved in a business. We weighed up various options and decided on the Dinky Donuts route. The plan was to move into a shop front in the middle of Cardiff, but we never quite made that happen. My business partner then went back into teaching and now it's just me working from a van.

Q What was so attractive about the job? A Well, if I'm honest it was the fact that they said you could make pounds 200 an hour. It quickly became apparent that we weren't going to be hitting that sort of level, but it's still a good business. You get a high rate of return business with food if you get it right.

Q How do youmake the doughnuts? A The whole focus of the business is around freshly prepared, hot doughnuts. I buy all the ingredients from Dinky Donuts, and prepare the mix from those ingredients. That then goes into the doughnut machine in the truck and is shaped into 10 miniature doughnuts and fried. Our customers then have a choice of several different dipping sauces, which they can add to the doughnuts.

Q How many doughnuts will you sell a day? A Well on a slow day, it can be as few as 100, which is 10 bags, but on a good day I would shift 400 bags.

Q Where is your best pitch? A Currently I work in Barry, Merthyr, Pontypool and Splott Market. The market is a good spot, it's very much geared towards selling.

QIt's National Doughnut Week right now. Tell us about that.

AIt's a UK-wide scheme, run in association with the Children's Trust and I believe Ainsley Harriott and Brian Turner are lending it their support this year as well.

Essentially it involves participating bakers donating a certain percentage of their profits, something like 10% to the trust, helping to raise a bit of money and have a bit of fun.

Q What do you enjoy the most about the job? A You do get to meet people and travel around a bit.

Selling food, when you get it right, is a good way to make money. You'll see a high level of return business if people like the product and that's the cornerstone of a successful strategy.

Q What's your least favourite thing about it? A I can't tell you how many times people have come up to me and asked for a hot dog and some chips. Also after a long day in the van you do tend to go home whiffing of donuts.

You don't notice it at first, because you've grown used to it, but after you have a shower it suddenly hits you.

National Doughnut Week runs until Saturday. For more information visit www.thechildrenstrust.org.uk..