History

A little History about how this all got started…

A few years ago I began to dream about opening a bookstore/coffee shop.   The rub was that I couldn’t really leave my job.  My husband is a drywall contractor.  I was the one who had the steady income; I was the one who provided insurance for our family.  I couldn’t just up and quit my job and hope to make a go of it.  We couldn’t live without my salary for one thing.  I had absolutely no experience running a book store either or what the difference between a frappe and latte was let alone how to make one.  Still, the pull was very strong and I fantasized about it a lot.  I bought how to books on how to start a business and read them all.  The more I read the more discouraged I became.  It was obvious that I was not in a position to act on my dreams.  It fell by the wayside like all the other great ideas and projects I either never act on or never finish, like learning Spanish, Java programming, playing the piano, running a marathon, etc.

When the economy started to falter, so did my husband’s work.  With so many houses in foreclosure, no one was building and his work dried up.  We were barely making it on my salary and his drywall business was failing.  It got worse when my employer cut salaries across the board.  It was too much and we couldn’t make it anymore on my salary alone.  We had to file bankruptcy and I started looking for a new job and alternate ways to make money.

I got incredibly lucky and got a new job that pays my bills again and at the same time I started baking cookies and cheesecakes for friends, family and co-workers on the side.  I also started selling on Ebay and Etsy.  I wasn’t making millions but I was at the very least paying for my gas and lunch most weeks with the side job.  Even better, my husband began doing most of the cookie baking!   FANTASTIC.

Then he made a fateful statement to me.  He said: “If you can sell these cookies, I’ll bake them all day.”

Hmm…really?  PERFECT.

So, then I was back to fantasizing about opening my own place, this time a bakery that sold cookies and cheesecakes.  Now, how was I going to do that with no disposable income, no hope of getting a business loan and a husband as the baker who had no idea how to run a bakery?  My own bakery experience consists of about 6 months of working in a bakery at a grocery store when I was nineteen years old.  I learned how to decorate cakes there, fill donuts with jelly, slice and bag fresh baked breads and package cookies.  Everything I need to know right?  Not exactly.

Enter Tiffany whom I persuaded to jump onto this speeding train with me.  We have worked together for years and are very good friends.  Her bakery experience? Less than mine I think.  But she was the catalyst I needed to take this idea from fantasy to reality.  We became partners, formed a business and together are trying to make a go of this.

M