Kourney Post started Bakety Bake in 2018, just after having her 4th baby as a way to earn extra income and be creative. It began as a home-based bakery, where she sold custom decorated sugar cookies. After baking and decorating thousands of sugar cookies, she found the market was really lacking a meringue powder for making royal icing that was easy to use and didn’t taste like cardboard. After months of experimenting in her home kitchen, she developed a recipe for meringue powder that quickly became a staple in her cookie business. She started selling her meringue powder to local bakers, and then connected with a cookie-based Facebook group, where her sales suddenly and dramatically increased literally overnight. She quickly outgrew her home kitchen and had to find solutions to make larger quantities faster. Sales grew from $2,000 to $100,000 within a year.
Post reached out the the SBDC, where they helped her research and call co-packers to see what would be needed to scale her business. They also did a redesign on her packaging and branding, helped her update her bookkeeping so she could track her progress and understand her margins, and assisted in developing a YouTube channel, website, Amazon store and tradeshow presence.
“The emotional ups and downs of owning a business is not at all what I had expected,” said Post. “I started my business to make some fun, extra income, but it is also changing me as a person. I am stronger and more capable than ever before. One thing that really drives me to do what I do is hearing from customers that my product has made their own businesses easier, more successful and profitable. I also hope my kids see what growth we’ve created and be inspired to develop their own businesses someday.”
In the next year, Bakety Bake has several goals, including adding copacker and fulfillment services, opening wholesale sales to boutique cooking stores and hobby stores, involving her children in the business and growing her sales and revenue.
