Amazing Artisans: Carola, Founder of Cookie Crumbles

Cooking should always be fun and educational, especially for children. We loved hearing from Carola about the fab ideas coming out of Cookie Crumbles and their journey from kitchen table project to thriving business!

Tell us the story of your business. How did you come up with the idea?

Cookie Crumbles started out in the early nineties offering children’s cooking classes and parties. My belief is that children should be encouraged to develop a better understanding of food and nutrition by actively getting involved in the kitchen. I believe that children can become better eaters, develop their motoric skills and, best of all, have great fun cooking and baking. That’s why I developed baking mixes that are as natural as possible on the principle that they provide great nutrition for the whole family. Our products are bursting with fantastic ingredients like wholegrain, seeds and dried fruit essential to our daily diet.   

What was your motivation for starting your own business?

I was trained as a chef in Paris before trying my hand at Patisserie and then studying journalism in Paris. I landed my first job at a renowned German Food magazine before moving into Woman’s Magazines as a food editor. I soon realised with my own kids that nobody ever encouraged children to have fun in the kitchen and get messy. I started dedicated pages in the magazine with child- friendly recipes before deciding to set up Cookie Crumbles.

What's the most exciting thing about being an entrepreneur?

The most exciting thing is that if you have an idea you can just try and make it happen. There’s no need to go through lengthy meetings and discussions; I just go and try and make my idea into a concept or product.

What challenges have you come across?

Many – financial, conceptual, logistical, staffing, you name it.  As a startup I was covering and exploring areas that I had no expertise in -which in my case seemed to be many. I think one of the main challenges was the tendency to get on with familiar, manageable work stuff and ignore the areas that are unknown. However, as time goes by you become more confident and get more connections- generally speaking other entrepreneurs are happy to share their experiences.

What advice would you give to someone thinking about starting their own business?

Be realistic and know your own limitations.

What kind of business support do you want to receive or wished you had received?

Entrepreneurship can be quite a lonely existence as you often have to answer your own questions  which can be tough. I would have like to tap into a service where advisers for different areas could give you some feedback.

What would you like to see in a food hub that showcases new producers?

It would be great to be able to share experiences, contacts and stories with other producers.

What do you think about our big ideas and what we are trying to achieve?

I think it’s a wonderful idea and much needed!

If you're interested in Carola’s idea and want to find out a little bit more about these yummy kits, head over to the Cookie Crumble website here, or find them tweeting away @CookieCrumbs_UK.

Are you an Amazing Artisan who wants to be featured on our blog? We'd love to hear from you- drop us a Tweet @KitchTablePro with the hashtag #AmazingArtisan or send us a message to hello@kitchentableprojects.com

Amazing Artisans: Gavan Knox, Founder of Mr Mom's Kitchen

If you've been following our tweetings recently or have been keeping a watchful eye on our blog this month, it's probably no secret to you that Kitchen Table Projects love a sweet treat. Tempting our team with a tasty treat is not difficult, especially when it comes to the king of cakes and bakes: the cupcake. This week we combined our two loves- meeting passionate artisans and chatting all things sweet- and got talking to Gavan, the baking-mastermind, cupcake-extraordinaire behind Mr Mom's Kitchen. We found out about his journey from baking to business, his startup twitter tips, as well as his plans for global cupcake domination…

Tell us the story of your business. How did you come up with the idea?

I learned to bake at an early age from my mother. Some of my earliest memories are of sitting on the sink drainer watching my mother bake. I had free reign of her numerous cookbooks and she was unfailingly positive - even in times of failure.

It was when my partner presented me with a KitchenAid that I really launched into baking. After adopting our children, I took a year off work and start to bake… And bake… And bake! I chose the name “Mr. Mom’s” to acknowledge the American style of my cupcakes I work with and my (then) role as a stay-at-home dad.

What was your motivation for starting your own business?

Global domination! *cue maniacal laughter* okay, I’m just kidding…

Cupcakes are very much seen as a “girly” side of baking [and] I want to even the playing field a bit. Let’s face it - real men eat cupcakes too! I’d like show that it’s not about whether it’s a male/female thing - it’s just all about the cake. And good cake at that.

It’s a pet hate of mine to have a really interesting sounding cupcake and take a bite, only to realise it’s a mundane tasting sponge, frosted in cloying buttercream and bedazzled in sugar-paste decorations. As well as sounding interesting, I genuinely believe a cupcake should be interesting to your taste-buds too. I love pushing flavour boundaries - pretzels & beer; hot buttered rum; dark chocolate & wasabi.

I [also] just want to do something that I love. I love baking, and making people happy, and who doesn’t want to wake up every day doing something they love? The smile on someone’s face as they’re tucking into something you’ve made is quite a rush - nobody leaves my table hungry!

I’d be kidding if I also didn’t say that I’d like Mr. Mom’s be profitable enough so as I could step back and quit my office job and still be able to provide for my family.

What's the most exciting thing about being an entrepreneur?

Being able to stand back and think “I did that”. From initial sketch to final crumb that feeling of creating something that can bring even a few minutes of pleasure to people is quite something. Don’t get me wrong - there are risks and bad judgments to be made but I think these are all part and parcel of owning something. Without the bad things you don’t really get the true value of the good things, do you?

What challenges have you come across?

Looking to make that “break” into the marketplace can be quite disheartening at times. Having little or no response to your efforts can sometimes leave you wondering “Is what I’m doing really good enough?”.

The question that always crops up is “Where do I start?”. For me it was a question of do I go set up at markets? Do I go to local cafes and restaurants, or larger retail names? The work of building up a name and getting that name out there is, let’s be honest, is more draining than the actual act of baking itself! And sometimes your progress at times can feel REALLY slow.

The side that sometimes can get overlooked is the effect on your relationship if you’re in one. There have been long hours, late nights, and mad dashes between school runs and my day job for sample drops. All of these added to the stress of possible rejection has sometimes made me not the easiest of people to be around. My husband jokingly now refers to himself as a “cupcake widower”.

What advice would you give to someone thinking about starting their own business?

Believe in what you do. There will be times when you question what the hell you’re doing and if it’s worth it all- and that’s only natural. But if you have belief and faith in what your business and product then you’ll weather it through. In the words of Julia Child, “Find something you're passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.”

On a less philosophical note, make use of social media - you have no excuse in this day and age! If you have a foodie product I’d [also] suggest making use of Instagram. I once heard it referred to as “Twitter for people who can’t read” but in my opinion it really is a case of “A picture paints a thousand words”. As appealing as a “Peanut Caramel” cupcake sounds, if you were to see it you’d want to order a dozen! Remember - you eat with your eyes too.

What kind of business support do you want to receive or wished you had received?

A direct link to interested parties would be fantastic. I’ve followed up quite a few sample drops only to be told, “We do our baking in-house”. “Well why did you take the samples then?”, is my first thought. So much time and effort could be saved if there was a pool of interested parties involved, looking for a definitive end product.

[With branding,] I came up with a lot of the concept sketches and ideas myself and I was very lucky that through my husband, I had access to a someone who could work these sketches into a more polished end piece. However some people aren’t in such a position either by means or inclination so accessible and affordable support agencies would also be a support avenue worth investigating.

What do you think about our big ideas and what we are trying to achieve?

I think it’s an excellent idea. There’s a real buzz about interesting good quality food and the internet and social media has meant that people are lot more savvy about what’s out there. However as a start-up/ emerging business it’s often quite hard to get word of it further than your current audience and to make it available to them.

KTP’s aim of acting as that connection point on the map is a really fantastic approach to me so far. I’m very much looking forward to hearing more.

We love what Mr Mom's story- it's just a bonus that his cupcakes taste so amazing, too! If we've got you craving some of his amazing cupcakes, or just fancy finding out some more about what he's all about, then head over to his website here, or find him tweeting away here.

Are you an Amazing Artisan with a great story to tell? We'd love to hear from you- drop us a Tweet @KitchTablePro with the hashtag #AmazingArtisan, or send us a message to hello@kitchentableprojects.com

Amazing Artisans: Joe and Anna, Founders of BakedIn

Take a couple of friends, one big idea, and a weakness for sweetness, and you get BakedIn- the start up home baking kit company based in Basingstoke.  Joe and Anna, the cake-baking, brownie-loving, sponge extraordinaires behind the idea, decided that they wanted to turn their tasty hobby into a business one day on their commute up the M3 to work. They wanted to create a kit that would take the fussiness and wastefulness out of baking, but at the same time wanted to show people how easy and delicious it is to bake by yourself, from scratch. Last week we caught up with Joe to chat all things cake and start up businesses.

Tell us the story of your business! How did you come up with the idea?

'Me and Anna lift share to work, and one day, rabbiting away on the M3, we started chatting about how one of us had baked cakes to take into work. We started discussing how baking can be a bit of a pain when there’s only a certain amount of hours in the evening, and how you always end up with bits of leftover ingredients. And that's when we came up with the idea for the business. We tried out the products first- we made 150, gave them to our friends in little bags, and then got them to fill out a feedback survey. The verdict was pretty unanimous-everyone thought they were pretty great! We tested 6 different flavours, but ended up using only three of those to start with as we wanted to keep start up costs down whilst still being able to deliver a really high quality product. We booked three events to trial the kits at, and decided that we would make a decision after those events as to whether we were going to go ahead with the business.The products did really well, so we said, ‘right, let’s go for this!’ We always wanted to put the product into the boxes we have today, but stuck with the bags until we had the resources to do so. We did everything ourselves- we even printed the labels at home on our own printers!'

Would you say it’s better to just get a product out there before getting it perfect, or that you need to make it perfect before you pitch it to potential customers?
'There’s two schools of thought there. In a big business it’s essential to get things perfect, whereas the start up way is more about getting something out there, then getting feedback before you tweak it. We’ve employed some of that with BakedIn to an extent, but there’s always the perfectionist in you that doesn’t want to put something out there that isn’t exactly how you envision it in your mind, especially when its your own business. I think there’s a balance- I don’t fully buy into the idea that you should chuck something out there. I think it’s all about compromise; for us, that was the inkjet printed labels that we started with, but doing that we were able to get feedback and not take the risk of spending loads of money when we knew the product would sell as it was. The product needs to be trialed, but the product needs to be good enough too. I think its really important to feel proud of what you’re doing.'

What was your motivation for starting your own business?
'We really wanted to be able make a noticeable difference in a business, something that is often difficult to do in bigger businesses. We really wanted the autonomy of running your own business, and the satisfaction you get from knowing that every ounce of effort you put in you get back in some way or another, which sometimes you don’t necessarily get when you’re working for someone else. A main motivator was the fact that we got to do something that we genuinely loved.'

What’s the best thing about being an entrepreneur?
'That you get what you give. If you do something well you do well out of it, if you do something badly, you suffer from it. Me and Anna are really good friends, and lots of people have said that you shouldn’t go into business with your friends. I don’t buy into that at all- it’s more important to work with people you like...otherwise you should think about getting some new friends!'
What's been your biggest challenge?

'Managing demand and production was challenging, but probably the biggest challenge has to be getting in front of buyers. One of the things I take away from running a business part time (Joe and Anna run the business alongside their day jobs) is that it takes you so much longer to do things yourself. One of the mistakes we made was that we took too long to do certain things, and that was the thing that was stopping us from getting the product into the shops. One of the biggest lessons we learnt was that you need to just sit down, focus on something and do it, because it’s too easy to let things drag on if it’s your own project.'

What advice would you give to someone thinking of starting their own business?

'Research the market, but not too much- do enough to satisfy yourself so you have an idea of the market, and then just try it. At the end of the day there is no amount of surveys that can tell you whether someone is actually going to buy something; the only way to know is to make them give you money for it. You should also be organised, and try to have a balance of skills across your business- we've got a mix of skills between both of us but it would also be great to have someone with a sales background on our team.'

Find out more about BakedIn and their fab products on their website, or find them tweeting away here. And make sure to keep your eyes peeled on the blog post for Kitchen Table Projects team attempt at one of BakedIn's fab kits- coming to a kitchen soon!

Are you an Amazing Artisan who wants to be featured on our blog? We'd love to hear from you- drop us a Tweet @KitchTablePro with the hashtag #AmazingArtisan or send us a message to hello@kitchentableprojects.com

Kitchen Table Projects Visit Do You Love Food 2014 at Loseley Park, Guildford

We may not have been at Glastonbury last weekend, but Kitchen Table Projects certainly embraced the festival spirit this weekend by pulling on our wellies, braving the torrential weather, and heading to the the Do You Love Food Festival at Loseley Park, Surrey.

Despite the rain, the festival was bustling with whole range of different producers, including the team from BakedIn, who we go to have a chat with (which will be up on the blog tomorrow- keep your eyes peeled!)  As always it was great to see such a huge variety of independent artisans, and to see them embrace the miserable British weather with such determination and cheerfulness!

There was also a huge range of street food on offer (which left us significantly more full than when we arrived)- we sampled some amazing duck wraps, gourmet sausage rolls and delicious cakes (on top of all the samples offered by the artisan stalls...woops!)

One of the best parts of the festival had to be the cookery demonstrations. Michelin star chefs, TV stars, Bakers and Wine experts showed off a variety of tasty dishes and products over a number of different themed stages. We loved seeing Great British Bake Off contestant Cathryn Dresser do her thing making some delicious cakes on the bakery stage, but our favorite demonstration of the day had to Stefan Gates. Although the show was probably aimed more at children (but aren't we all kids at heart?) we loved his exploration of the science of food- it really is true that you learn something new every day!

Even with the torrential rain we had a really great afternoon. And anyway, A British summer without unexpected downpours is like Wimbledon without Strawberries- It just doesn't happen!