Today we’d like to introduce you to Karen Jenkins
Hi Karen, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I’m not a natural risk taker, so starting my own home-based bakery business was unnerving, to say the least. Once my kids became more independent, I was able to visualize what I wanted to do and how to make it work with my full-time job. I started by getting my business license back in 2017, which was simple enough, but when I began researching becoming permitted as a cottage food business in Washington State, the rules were so limiting it didn’t seem like a good fit for me and what I wanted to do. Like so many others, I had extra time in 2020 and when I researched the cottage food industry again, I noticed many of the overly-strict rules had been relaxed and it now seemed possible that this path might work for me. After lots of research, recipe testing, note taking and paperwork, I finally got my cottage food permit later that year.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Every market is a crapshoot as far as how much product to bring and what types of products customers will want to buy. One day, my gluten-free double chocolate fudge brownies sell out within the first 2 hours, so for the next market I make more, only to return with most of them.
I created a spreadsheet to track variables like weather and competition at the markets, but there doesn’t seem to be a predictable pattern.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
By day, I am an instructor in Edmonds College’s Baking and Pastry Arts Program. My cottage bakery is what I do when I’m not teaching (evenings, weekends and breaks).
I love making sourdough bread, chocolate bonbons and tarts: three very different products. The process of creating these products continues to amaze me: raw ingredients combined in very a specific manner make something entirely different and absolutely delicious.
I also sell cookies, brownies, quick breads, coffee cakes, brioche products, granola and more.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
In my area, two industries seem to be simultaneously booming: cottage bakeries and arts/crafts types of markets. On the surface, this looks like it would be a good thing, however, this oversaturation of home bakers and market venues is diluting the marketplace. The results of which are markets with fewer customers and too many similar vendors.
I’m not sure how, when or if this situation will be resolved, but my hope is that there will be a leveling off of both industries in the near future.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kdjsthebakerie.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kdjsthebakerie/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kdjsthebakerie
Image Credits
KDJ’s The Bakerie