We recently connected with Sianni Dean and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Sianni, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with what makes profitability in your industry a challenge – what would you say is the biggest challenge?
One of the biggest challenges to profitability in our industry is being able to profit at the same consistent rates . Prices for paper goods to perishable products like butter, milk and eggs to flour sugar and yeast are changing as fast as every week or every month now a days. Before the pandemic started I could easily get a 36lb pound of butter for anywhere between $70-80 now those same boxes cost about $140-150. The flour we use was about $12 for a 50lb bag at one point now it’s about $23. That’s just to mention two items. Just about every ingredient now it’s double the price it was in the past. I know this is to be the same for many industries.
Sianni, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Cranky Granny’s Sweet Rolls offers a variety of cinnamon rolls from your traditional classic roll of a buttery soft cinnamon sugar filled roll to peach cobbler, cookies n cream , banana pudding and the list goes on and on. We also have 6 vegan cinnamon rolls available too. The inspiration behind my business is my granny who is also the face of the logo . Growing up we always enjoyed going to granny’s for different occasions indulging in different sweets and savory foods while enjoying each other’s company. I wanted to extend that into other peoples families . So our mission is for families and friends to enjoy reminiscing on old memories while creating new ones.. I believe that is not being a “bakery” technically sets us apart. A normal bakery you will walk into and point at what it is you would like , they’ll box it up and send you on your way. Here at Cranky Granny’s it’s an experience. You take a look at our many options and let us know what you would like or let us know what kind of taste you’re looking for and we’ll make suggestions. You’ll place your order and then your order is prepared upon request right there in front of you. You get a chance to be involved with the glazing and topping experience since you are just on the other side of the counter. We take pride in the fact that our dough, glaze and toppings are made in house (from scratch) . Some places you may visit and they’re getting a delivery of dough sent in or pre rolled pastries. But here at Cranky Granny’s , dough , glaze and toppings are made daily.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
It’s funny that this question would come up now. I’m actually in a position now where I have to show resilience and pivot. Unfortunately I am being out of my store due to renovations happening at the shopping center that we are located at. Another company will be taking over our store unfortunately. Even when you do everything right from being on time financially to bringing more business to an establishment and giving no problems at all. Things can still go left for you when there is no true ownership. *SN:Always have an attorney go over EVERYTHING! * Anyhow most entrepreneurs/people would let this situation bring them down or would decide to take on another career path. But me ? Absolutely not. I take this as a time to redo. I take this as a time to get ready for something bigger to come whether that be another store ,a food truck or whatever opportunities may come. Our long term goal is to franchise so giving up was never an option. When we received the news that we would be losing our store, I immediately started to right down different ideas like festivals , pop up shops , vendor events, etc… Baking out of my home again temporarily. Whatever would be needed to be done to keep the ball rolling for Cranky Granny’s temporarily until we found our next permanent moves. Fortunately a friend of mine connected me with someone who has a restaurant and is willing to let us use half the kitchen to run Cranky Granny’s out of. Though it is not ideal for us because we have grown accustomed to being in our space own space. Sometimes you have to pivot temporarily to set yourself up for long term gains.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
When I first started Cranky Granny’s I had a food business called “Dean’s Cuisines” that I had an Instagram page for. When I decided at 18 years old that Cranky Granny’s was definitely the business I was goi be full fledge with I deleted everything off of that page and made it Cranky Granny’s Instagram page. The page only had about 500-1000 followers if that. For a long time I could not get my following to grow at all. As I was scrolling one day I seen a person who seemed like he knew what he was doing with social media and seemed successful and booked a consultation with him. EVERYTHING from that consultation I actually took in consideration and starting executing immediately. Some people sit on info forever and do nothing with it . But why do that when i thought “I obviously did the consultation for a reason and he everything sounds valid so I’m going to do it “. I started to clean up my page , deleting a lot of stuff, started making memes to post myself and send to different shoutout pages and being consistent with the quality of my photos. Let’s just say that in a weeks time I went from 1k -6k back in 2018. Now we’re at 47k followers on Instagram from staying consistent with a lot of the same practices. I’ve applied this same mindset to our Facebook and tiktok too and it pays off very well…The name of the man who gave me guidance on my social media who also became my mentor is Eric Jones “Doctor Dapper”.
Contact Info:
- Website: Crankygrannys.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/crankygrannys?igshid=NWRhNmQxMjQ=
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/CRANKYGRANNYS/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sianni-d-6a2398a9
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/CrankyGrannys?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
- Yelp: https://m.yelp.com/biz/cranky-grannys-sweet-rolls-austin
- Other: Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sweetrolldealer?_t=8UZul7VQ4Cs&_r=1