Baking For Business Podcast
The BFB podcast is a no fluff, no BS podcast dedicated to helping bakers, treat makers and cottage food entrepreneurs build and grow in business, life and everything in between. Chef Schonberg is devoted to sharing tips, resources and conversations tailored to those in the baking industry. With her tough love perspective and passion for marketing Chef Schonberg makes it her mission to uplift and educate those in the baking profession.
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Baking For Business Podcast
#Ep 91: Celebrating A $4k Day As Home Bakers By Serving Their Community With Cookies And Classes
Today's guest is sharing how offering local classes has helped their brand expand its business. Megan Brewer from Brown Butter Bakery returns to share her uplifting journey of the success her and her hubby have had by now offering community classes.
In this episode, we discuss:
- What inspired them to start their brand as cottage bakers
- What steps did they take to incorporate local classes into their business
- How they manage to sell a single cookie for $10 with success
- How they turned a love of classes into a kid's camp to help their community
From celebrating a $1k sales day to a $4k sales day as home bakers, Megan and Kyle's commitment to their business and faith show what's possible for home bakers.
You can view their beautiful work by clicking here.
Ready to work with me to start hosting your own money-making local decorating classes? Click here
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Hey, sweet friends, my name is Chef Schaumburg. I started my baking business with a bottle of DeSorono and one Bundt cake pan. Fast forward to today, from news to magazines, speaking on national stages and more. I can truly say that baking has changed my life. So now, as a bakery business coach, I get to help others have the same success. I've helped hundreds of my students across the world in my global membership program create six-figure businesses, mainly from home.
Speaker 1:The Baking for Business podcast is an extension of that, from actionable tips to valuable tools and resources that can impact you as a business owner. I truly believe y'all. We would never have been given a gift if we couldn't profit and prosper from it. So come on, darling. What are you waiting for? Hey? What's going on, you guys? And welcome back to the baking for business podcast. I'm so excited to have you here today.
Speaker 1:Today we have a special guest in the house. We have Megan Brewer of Brown Butter Bakery, located in Texas, and you might be really familiar with their story because they were on podcast episode number 41, which was amazing because it highlighted how they generated over $1,000 a day in sales as home bakers selling cookies. Well, since then, they've scaled, they've added classes to their brand and that has really just accelerated their business. And so I thought it would be amazing to hear tips and tools directly from one half of Brown Butter Bakery. Today we have Megan Brewer, so she is the back end of Brown Butter Bakery, along with Kyle, who is amazing, is amazing, and together this duo runs a really tight-knit, family-owned business, which is all about family, putting community first and spreading joy in their local business. So, megan, welcome back to the Baking for Business podcast. How are you doing today?
Speaker 2:I'm doing so well. Thank you so much for having me here today.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and so, for those who may not have listened to the previous episode, can you just give us a little bit of how is Brown Butter Bakery formed and what are some of the things that you guys offer?
Speaker 2:So we started two years ago about to the day because it was October of 2022. We had recently moved into a new home. We had moved our family into a new area because our daughter was starting kindergarten. We wanted her in a better school system and we just found ourselves in need of more income. What we had wasn't cutting it with our full-time jobs, and so we try to get creative and think what skills do we have that we could utilize? And Kyle has always been a wonderful baker and I think he would agree that I have a knack for bossing people around so I got that job and he got to get into the kitchen and we just use that to really supplement our income and to make life a little bit easier. Our kids started getting involved in activities and so that helps pay for those things too.
Speaker 2:Our niche products are cookies. We love to make cookies, bake cookies. We don't do much with cake. We do make cake sickles, but that's about it. So we make big giant gourmet cookies, cookie cakes, stacked cookie cakes If it's a cookie but not royal icing, we make it.
Speaker 1:Amazing and so many people are into the gourmet cookies now and you guys do amazing with your gourmet cookies now and you guys do amazing with your gourmet cookies, and so I'm pretty sure when you first started, you were all about cookies, like selling cookies, selling them. You sell singles, which have been amazing for like $10 each.
Speaker 2:Yes, we actually just had some picked up right before this, so so, yes, we do a gift box of a single cookie with buttercream on top, and those go for $10 each.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh. That in itself I love, and we can go down a rabbit hole because so many bakers assume that a cookie only has to be two or $3. So you know they're always asking people for pricing help in groups and I'm like no, depending on your brand and how you set yourself up, you can earn more from cookies. So $10 from one gourmet cookie with buttercream in a box.
Speaker 2:Yes, ma'am, yes, it is possible.
Speaker 1:It is right, amen, that's so awesome. And so when you guys started, you sell the single cookies, you sell cookies by the dozen, but you were not doing classes.
Speaker 2:No, we started out just driving around our neighborhood handing cookies out. We got on our neighborhood Facebook and said, hey, we've got cookies. Who wants them? And a lot of people like cookies. So we were hand delivering every single thing for free and losing all of the money that we possibly could until we learned how to do better and eventually, yes, we have added classes to our repertoire.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and so fast forward. I know you joined the entrepreneur community. You guys are both members and, like you said, you've learned how to do better now. You definitely charge for your delivery and I love the fact that you guys jump on the opportunity to host classes. So can you tell me about that? When you're hearing, you know, I always say you can earn more in one night than you can in one week Were you thinking, yeah, right, or maybe we should go for it? Or what made you decide to try our classes?
Speaker 2:So being part of the entrepreneur community, we hear you talk about community classes and getting your community involved in teaching, and I am 100%. Whatever cook or whatever chef says, we're going to do it. And sometimes it takes me a little bit to talk Kyle into it, but he's married to me and has to live with me, so he usually does what I asked him to do or not. No, but really it was a you talking in our entrepreneur group, seeing the testimonials from other people who had done it. And and another thing is is what really got Kyle on board was we wanted to involve kids in some way, because his passion started as a child and you know, just culturally you don't see men in the kitchen super often. You know, when we first started, we got a lot of comments about Kyle being in the kitchen and and so we kind of wanted to help change that stigma and just embrace anybody that wanted to learn cooking. And for me, I wasn't in the kitchen a lot as a kid and so I've learned a lot through him.
Speaker 2:So what really got us on board was listening to stories of people in our entrepreneur community, your foundation of exactly how to do it and what we're going to do and the way it's going to be successful and just putting them together and trying out a class. And it really worked out for us. And once we saw it the first time, we were like we could rinse, recycle and repeat. You know, just do this over and over again in different ways and make it fun. And so we have. We've done several different classes and even camps since then and it's been a true blessing on our business and our family.
Speaker 1:Oh, that is so awesome to hear. So walk me through your first class. Do you remember, you guys? Very first class? What was that that you offered?
Speaker 2:We had to get creative, because with just standard gourmet cookies, you know we're not decorating anything. So what are we going to teach people? Because not everywhere has commercial ovens for us to be able to go in and bake, and so we used other kitchen skills that we have and we actually did a class. In our community we have a wonderful HOA center and we've repeated this at other communities as well chocolate, espresso mousse with chantilly cream and fresh berries, and it was for us, something pretty simple, but a lot of people don't know how to make it. So, you know, we bought burners to take on the tables and we have. They're all confection, so there's no fire, but you know we've got confection burners and pots and pans and all this stuff. And so, even though it wasn't what our specialty is, it was still a skill that we had that we could share with other people, and it was. It was just an absolute blast. We had so much fun teaching that class.
Speaker 1:And that's what I love, and that's that's one of the things I go over. The C is for creative, because there's so many different ways to have classes that are not necessarily what it is that you do, but you can still have fun within it. You can think outside the box and you're right. To some, as bakers, it may seem so simple, but what people don't understand is that when you're having community classes and you're teaching people in your neighborhood, people who normally don't step in the kitchen this isn't their profession. Maybe they're senior citizens or maybe they're young it doesn't come easy to them. So making a mousse from scratch and then chantilly, which is so delicious and so big in the South, that in itself sounds like fun. So that's really, really awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was a great time and just, we've really learned through our classes exactly what you said. Just, we've really learned through our classes exactly what you said. What may be normal and and run in the middle for us is not. That's not the case for everybody. There are many families who eat out every single day and have never stepped foot in their kitchen, and so getting together because we had several families that came and did that class together it was a fun night for them to get together and do something new and add something to what they do at home, and many of those families have told us since then that they started cooking at home with their kids or they started finding things to do in the kitchen with their kids, and it's an activity that they now do regularly together. That has brought them closer together and I think for me that's the most rewarding part is one little thing a two-hour night that we spent together has turned into something that they do regularly and has brought them closer together.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. That's so amazing and such a wonderful testimony to your brand mission you guys you and Kyle with Brown Butter Bakery of just really being active in the community and helping and serving others. You mentioned earlier that you went through your HOA, which I think is amazing, because so many people say, okay, well, if I have a home-based business and I don't have space and I don't want people to come to my home, as you shouldn't, how do I find people? And so I'm always big, I'm like there's tons of people out there. But, besides the HOA, can you maybe share maybe one other person that you partner with to have your classes with?
Speaker 2:locally. You may be sure, maybe one other person that you partner with to have your classes with locally. So we have a local coffee shop that we are in the talks of doing a class with. She actually owns her own coffee shop and we're talking about doing something with that. We can incorporate a coffee flight with some sort of cooking or decorating class in her shop. So there's total, there's totally everything, a ton of venues that we can use, and so we're definitely not limiting ourselves on where we can go. If you can imagine it and you're willing to put the work in to make it come together, you can make it come together. So if you're just willing to do the legwork and you're willing to look into it and make sure you're not you're following the rules, you can do it. There's places out there. You just got to be willing to go. Look for them.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and so many businesses they welcome, you know, activities and partnerships with other small businesses because it allows us to come together. We both get to spread brand visibility, especially when we have the same target audience. So it's a win-win for both people, on both sides. And so you actually ended up taking one of your classes and you and Kyle turned it into a whole camp. Yes, we did Tell us about now, which is another wonderful way that I tell people that you can spend your classes. So tell us about your children's camp and how does that go?
Speaker 2:So we had this really crazy idea that we would spend an entire week in a kitchen with little kids. It was one of the most fun weeks we've ever had. We were very nervous, for obvious reasons how are we going to wrangle 20 kids for a whole week in a kitchen safely? But we had so much fun with it. So what we really wanted to do was bring in a class that spoke to a host of children, and we did limit the age group so that way we could really focus on a certain set of skills and make sure that we knew who our audience was, and it fit the bill. So we worked with kids that were between seven and 12 and they came in for a week. Our class was nine to three, so it was literally an entire day, and we started with the very basics of what are your kitchen tools, how do you have respect in the kitchen, how do you practice safety, and we learned how to. We taught them how to measure dry ingredients, wet ingredients, how to use the scales in the kitchen, how to level everything that you would need to know. From the very basics and by the end of the week, we just built on those skills throughout the week and then by the end of the week they were making their own desserts and gift wrapping them to take to family members to share what they had learned in class. And it was so much fun.
Speaker 2:Every day we made sure they had a treat that they could take home so that the parents could see. And it was amazing seeing the kids as soon as their parents would get there. They would light up and they're like look what I made today. And it was so much fun and it was because I studied education. I just didn't finish my degree, so I've got a little bit of a background in it and I like building lesson plans and things like that to try to do, you know, do it in separate or different ways so that, no matter how you learn you're, you're absorbing it.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, we would play games that had to do with what we learned that day and we even had them. We gave all the kids posters one day and had them draw what their dream bakery would look like, what would you name it? What would you sell? So we did a whole bunch of activities with them that just really got a lot of them excited about what they were doing and teaching them that you know if you love to give, it doesn't always have to be something you go by. You can make something for people, and you guys have learned all these skills in this class and you can share those with others, and by making something with your hands you can bring somebody a lot of joy, and so it was. It was a full week of crazy mess and loud little ones running around in a very echoey building, but it was so much fun and we're actually signed up to do two more this coming summer, so we're super excited for those.
Speaker 1:Wow, you go girl. That is totally amazing. So I love the fact that you've had classes with adults and they've gone successful. But you took your passion because you are a mom of little ones yourself and then turn that into working with children and for a whole week. I know those were a lot of parents that you guys gave a break from, yes, yes. So that is really awesome. So, aside from the kids, what was the most unique class that you guys have done to date?
Speaker 2:Well, I think probably the most unique was the one that we did most recently. We did a pancake flight class. So, you know, we just have random ideas every now and then and we're like're like man, wouldn't that be fun, let's do it and go a little bit crazy. Walmart had, um, what are they called? Their skillets, their um flat tops on sale, like the little tabletop ones. And uh, we were like, yeah, we could buy a bunch of those and do a pancake class. So we bought a bunch of them and did a pancake class.
Speaker 2:And I know when we were posting about it there, there was a lot of skepticism. I, you know, and I actually responded with a video and said you know, there's misconception about what we're doing and you know, this class is for certain people and if it's not for you, that's, that's great, but if this is for you, we would love to have you. And what we did was we made ricotta pancakes and we made four different toppings to put on them. We made a blueberry compote, we made a lemon curd, we made what we call the chunky monkey. It's got brulee bananas and mascarpone whipped cheese, and then there was a strawberry one. I can't remember what the other one was, but we did four different toppings for the pancakes and so everybody worked in groups and the fun thing was is you didn't know who all signed up, so you made them put with strangers and so seeing everybody work together and all of a sudden they're like we're going to have the best ones in the class and they were able to bring in their own mimosas, which helped with the calming of the nerves, with meeting new people.
Speaker 2:But it was so much fun, it was an absolute blast. We had a full class that day and we made so many pancakes and everyone was super excited to take their recipes home. And it was just a wild idea we had because we love to do brunch here at home. My kids personal favorite is dad's lemon ricotta pancakes with a lemon compote and blue Sorry, a lemon curd and a blueberry compote on top, and so we were like why don't we teach other people to make it? And it turned out really well. They had so much fun. We've gotten requests to do that one again.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, I can only imagine a pancake flight. Class is definitely it's thinking out the box. But I love the fact that she said people came together, because that's what I'm always telling my students. I'm like you're just the host. The class is really about people in the community getting to know one another and you just guiding them along their journey, and so I love that. And so you recently actually celebrated a big goal with all that in terms of income, but you actually closed out on a four,000 day. That is so amazing. How did that feel?
Speaker 2:It felt really great and I also felt like I was really tired. It was. You know, there's these things that happen and you're like, oh, this is amazing. And then you're like, oh, how are we going to do it? And you know it's funny when we first started, a half dozen box of cookies felt overwhelming. We were like, how are we going to make three dozen cookies today? And you know, you grow and now we've got huge commercial size double convection ovens in our house and we have a separate oven for our home food. So you know, you learn and you grow and you invest. And now when someone's like, oh, can we have 500 cookies next weekend? We're like, sure, that's no problem.
Speaker 2:So that 4K day felt like it was a little bit of a shock. And then we're like, wait a second, like that's, that's not too much, like we can handle that, that's going to be pretty easy. So it was. It was really like a full circle moment where it just made me think of how far we've come and appreciative of everything that God has blessed us with, everything that we have come our way. It's all the glory goes to him. We couldn't do it without him and the blessings that he has bestowed upon us and we couldn't do it without your guidance. You've helped us through every step of the way. So it's just been. You know, it was just. It was nice to just kind of sit and reflect and think, man, our hard work has brought us to this point and it was just a true blessing Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And I love that, because too often we hear so many bakers, oh, this economy or oh, I can't do it, or things are slow for me, or that'll never happen, or like, as you know, we were talking before because I teach you guys multiple ways to make money and one of those is digital products. But I do always like to tell my students that is not the only way. So when I see people like you you and Kyle bakery business owners who have that 4K day from cookies because another thing, cookies in classes Some people would also assume that you couldn't do that unless you did wedding cakes or fondant or like you have to do the big skills to make the big bucks. You come along and show that it's possible. So all is possible to anyone who believes, and so that's one of the things I love about you You're always in the group and always being so motivated, and so what advice would you have to anyone who wants to get started with classes or wants to add classes into their business?
Speaker 2:My very first piece of advice would be join the entrepreneur community and get the layout of it, because it helped 110%. We said she's got a great plan here. How can we use it in a way that makes sense for us? And so the structure just worked perfectly. And my other piece of advice would just be don't be scared. You don't know what's going to happen if you don't try, and you miss 100% of the shots that you don't take, and so if you're not willing to try, you're not going to get anywhere and you're going to make mistakes. Things are going to happen and you're going to learn and grow from it every time. But that's the point is, when you do mess up, you learn and you're better the next time because of it and you just you just have to start somewhere and it's. It's worth it.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, you're right. It is so totally worth it. And so what are some of the future plans for Brown Butter Bakery that you guys are working on?
Speaker 2:So, like I mentioned, we're already booked to do several more classes, particularly camps. We're going to do one for younger kids and then we're going to do a high school age class, which I hope that goes well, and then we have also been planning some digital classes, so we're excited to roll those out, hopefully soon.
Speaker 1:That's what I love One step at a time, one thing at a time, and so I'm so happy about that. Before I let you go, I do want to say thank you so much for coming on and for sharing with me, and we're going to play a game of lightning round the remix, since this is your second visit. Are you ready? Yes, ma'am, who is your favorite 90s artist? Oh, nsync.
Speaker 2:I'm a youngin, I love NSYNC. Chef, irene'm young. I'm a young and I love NSYNC.
Speaker 1:Chef Irene was just on and she said the Backstreet Boys. So yeah, I love them all. What is your favorite cartoon?
Speaker 2:Oh, my favorite cartoon. I don't think I've thought about that in a minute. Oh man, I mean, I loved watching, like Rocket Power, when I was a kid.
Speaker 1:I like that. I like that and we'll leave it there from the bottom of my heart. Megan, thank you so much for coming on and just for updating us with you and Kyle's success and continue. Blessings to both you and Kyle as you continue to grow your business in your local community with classes and with all the other things that your heart desires.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having me and allowing me to speak. Thank you for all the guidance that you give us. It has helped so much.
Speaker 1:Oh, you're more than welcome, darling. Special thanks again to Megan for coming on and sharing her story and where they are now. I love to see my students elevate and I love to see my students scale. You know two things, two questions that I get asked a lot. One of the first is always you know, should I do something?
Speaker 1:Whenever people ask me they'll say, well, should I do this or should I do that? Which one's better? And I tell people there isn't a better good, worse, anything like that. It's just that what may work for one person may not work for you, but you won't know if it'll work for you until you go for it and until you try it. Which brings me to the second thing. People will ask me a lot Is it worth it?
Speaker 1:And my response to that and my students always know I always combat that and say I don't know. Are you worth it? Like, because anytime someone tells me that they're trying something new and then they ask is it worth it? That depends. Are you worth it? Is your family worth it? Is your future worth it?
Speaker 1:Like, I think too often we find excuses and reasons to not go for things and we want to be comforted in life Like we just want to know, okay, well, I'll go for this. I want to know that it's going to be okay. I want to know that I'm going to get an A plus. I want to know that, you know, like a microwave result, like the sales will just triple overnight. And that's not business, that's not even life. Nothing is promised. And so what I love about Megan and Kyle and what she said was just that we just decided to go for it. Why not? Just why not? And every single time, they add something, they try something new, they take a lesson, they learn from it and then they get better. And so it's just amazing to see how, again on episode 41, they were celebrating a 1K day. Amazing to see how, again on episode 41, they were celebrating a 1K day. Now, with cookies, with classes, they're celebrating a 4K day. And to be in business within two years and to have that level of success, that is really amazing. And so today I'm asking you are you worth it? If there's something in your business that needs to be changed, or you want to take a different route, or maybe you've been considering classes, you want, want to teach local classes via kids classes, adults classes, senior citizens.
Speaker 1:What I love about classes is that they're not quite like digital products, although they are somewhat similar, but you know you're not really giving away your prized recipes unless you decide to. This is more of a leisure thing. You're literally walking people in your community through a fun activity, so you don't have to worry about your competitor or anyone coming. This should be something fun, simple, 90 minutes that a person gets to interact with you. They get to see you and hear more about your brand. It doesn't matter if you're bubbly, it doesn't matter if you're introverted, because you're going to always find your people. But it's just up to you to just offer that brand experience so that people can come into your world and get to know you.
Speaker 1:And, like I tell people all the time, you can literally earn more money in one night just hosting one class than you can baking all week long. Because the amazing part is that it doesn't matter if you're a cookier, be it roll icing or buttercream, or if you're a caker, a cupcaker even my chocolatier and sweets people we have people in my community who do dipping classes. The most amazing part is that you're only doing half the work. You're providing the item and someone else is doing the rest, and it really doesn't get any sweeter than that in our industry as we get older, especially to all my ladies. Being on the feet all the time is not fun, standing over a hot kitchen all the time is not fun, and so if you can find another way to scale and to grow and that allows you to do so and still have fun, I think that's what it's all about.
Speaker 1:I am so grateful to Kyle and Megan again, kyle was in the background baking a move when we were recording for updating us, sharing their story but, more than anything, sharing their faith. Those are some positive, positive kids, always sweet, always respectful, always helpful in our group whenever she can, and I thank God and I pray for more people, more students, like that in my community, and so thank them for sharing their story. I pray that it inspired you. If you're looking to get started with classes, simply check the show notes. I will have the links and I would love to show you the same way I teach my students how you can earn an extra one, two, three, four, whatever it is that you want to earn teaching local classes, and when you're ready for the next step, I'll be here for that too. Thanks so much for tuning in. Take care and bye for now.