Spoonful of Sugar, Sweets and Such

Mt. Sterling, KY

Danielle King and Donna Cassidy – Co-Founders

Stephen Powell – Executive Chef

Starting a business from scratch

● Lack of knowledge

● Lack of finances

● Lack of customer base

● Lack of real estate

Why did I do it?

● No local bakery (Big

Box companies only)

● Pan au chocolat was not

on the top ten wanted

items

● Mt. Sterling Population

6895 (2010 Census)

● Downtown had

● 1 restaurant

● 4 retail shops

● 3 Lawyers offices

● 4 Banks

● 17 empty storefronts

IF YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN MY BANKER.... you

would have told me NO!!!!!!!!

What makes you successful?

● Passion

● Understanding your vision

● Sustaining your business of at least 3 years

● Appreciate no sleep

● Appreciate working harder than everyone else

around you

● Good support system

Formula for a bakery???

● Mt. Sterling needed a bakery +

● Downtown needed life +

● I loved to make bread and pastries +

● Donna Cassidy loved to make sweets +

● = Successful Bakery

The struggles

● We both had full time

jobs

● Was afraid of more debt

● We had to become

experts in pastry and

dessert

● How could a bakery be

sustained

● Lets do one day a week

● Bought all used

equipment

● Went to French

Culinary Institute, NYC

● Goal was to cover

expenses

● 2010

– Purchased a building that had been unoccupied with a

business since 1997 (Took 2 years to complete)

● 2012 Opened Bakery

– September 2012

– Worked on Wednesday afternoon preparing

– Thursday 4 am – Opened at 8 am till sold out

2010

2012

● 2014

– Hired full time chef, Stephen Powell

– Expanded hours to Tuesday through Friday 8 am to 2 pm

● 2015

– Purchased sister building to make dining area

– Expanded then to Tuesday to Saturday and extended

hours to 7 pm.

● 2016 – We are still here..... with 6 employees

Challenges after opening

● It took 2 years for some people to know we existed

● Needed help getting our name out there

● Managing employee time to cover peak hours

● Offering competitive pay to keep excellent

employees on a “survival budget”

● Educating customers on fresh (increased cost) vs

frozen

What I learned....

● Community support is key

● Advertising budget is important

● Banks are your friends

● Be prepared for catastrophe

● Don't underestimate the power of signage

● Be okay with keeping in simple