The Baker’s Notebook - October

This little ghost Bundt is probably my cutest October item.

I always have a plan for everything, even if it looks like I make decisions on the fly. I’m actually really jealous of those fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants people. How do they live like that? I need to know the outcome before I make the plan, which is why there is a plan. The plan ensures the outcome I want, for the most part.

When I made the decision to close my shop, I made it a year before the actual closing. I ANNOUNCED it just a couple of months before closing, but the decision itself had been made well in advance. I had secured a Saturday and a Sunday market before I ever closed the doors to my retail shop. So the current situation I’m in, where I’ve moved indoors and set up inside another retail bakery (Smor), was not a snap decision. It was planned. Just because you don’t see the decision-making process doesn’t mean there wasn’t one at all.

When you’ve been in business for 16+ years (which seems insane, by the way), snap decisions get you nowhere. Everything takes planning, and I started planning my move to Smör in 2025, when I was able to use their certified kitchen to restart my wholesale program.

Let me tell you, the relationships you build in your industry actually matter.

I asked Rainbow Blossom if they wanted my products back in their shops and got an immediate YES email in response. That’s not necessarily how it works when you’re a new vendor. There are applications and channels to go through. But I had been a vendor there for a decade, and I only stopped because I closed my shop and, with it, lost access to my certified kitchen.

Home bakers in Kentucky cannot sell to retail businesses. We can only sell directly to the consumer. And I had customers who never came into my shop and only ever bought my products at Rainbow Blossom. Those customers were still out there, and I knew there was a reason to bring that part of my business back.

Once Rainbow Blossom said yes, then I got recertified in a commercial kitchen. There was no reason to move into a commercial kitchen before I had those wholesale accounts lined up, especially when you have the right home bakery setup available to you. I have three ovens and three rooms of extra storage for my home bakery. If I had the sales at markets, I could produce about 14K a month just from my house- because the set up is similar to a commercial bakery. But I still couldn’t sell to another store. You need the certification.

I knew I was parking my business at farmer’s markets for a few years to let the burnout subside. Selling at a farmer’s market and baking from home are about 1,000 times easier than running a retail shop. This was my slow down and gather steam again choice, not my “oh, she lost her shop and now she’s at markets, boohoo” choice.

Let me tell you, it took all of 18 months and change to clear my head again. I had been stressed, overworked, and frazzled for 13 years in that shop. And I really loved it for about nine of those years. I knew I wanted to bake forever (or as long as these old bones can keep doing it), but I couldn’t continue on the path I was on.

I really needed to take a step back and figure out where I was going. I know most new businesses use farmers markets to take a step forward, but I wasn’t new when I joined, so I’ve been using them to rest and figure it all out. Did I really rest during all those hot markets? Not my body, for sure, but my mind was getting plenty of rest -markets are NOT stressful. I finally had room to clear the cobwebs out and start again.

What does everything look like for my future? I mean, I have a plan. I have an outcome I eventually want to work toward and ride out until I retire (or can at least have enough days off to take dance classes again), but nothing is certain. I just keep making choices that move my current situation toward my final plan. That’s what business owners do.

There will always be a roadblock, a life-altering event, or some a-hole who ruins your plan, but you just have to keep moving forward. Wasn’t it Mike Tyson who said something like, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face?” Well, I have plans A through Z at all times, so when those punches come, I can just duck and make the next move.

That move, for now, is to give as many people access to safe baked goods as I can through wholesale and to bring back the excitement of “going to a bakery” by setting up inside Smor.

So, follow along for the next plot twist. It could be a beatdown or a victory, but it’s always a little surprise. I’m sure I’ll have a plan.

-Annie