We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ashley Starnes . We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ashley below.
Ashley , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. Looking back, do you think you started your business at the right time? Do you wish you had started sooner or later?
I started Baked by Ashley in 2019 and was baking specialty cake and cookie orders out of my home. It wasn’t until February 2022 that I opened a brick and mortar and I believe it was the right timing for me. Career wise, baking out of my house wasn’t enough to pay the bills so I started working at The Different Twist Pretzel Co. in the morning and heading home in the afternoon to start or finish any orders I had for that week/weekend.
Life wise, I knew I needed to take a risk to be where I wanted to be in life. I knew I wasn’t going to get there over night but I needed to just start now. I was scrolling through Facebook one afternoon and saw that a local Bakery was closing their doors at the end of October. I got in my car, drove to the bakery and asked what their plans were with the space and who I could contact. Unfortunately they already had someone they were working with so needless to say I left a little bummed. A few weeks later, I got a call that if I was still interested the space was mine. After some discussion with my family, I took the risk and moved Baked by Ashley into its first brick and mortar!
I can’t say I would’ve opened Baked by Ashley any sooner than I did this February. There are times I sit and think “this is a lot” but Im still learning as a business owner, baker, and boss. If we’re not constantly challenged, it wouldn’t bring personal growth, confidence and new skills therefore building a better me and business.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?
After high school I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I thew around a few different career ideas and one day saw an ad for Le Cordon Bleu where I ended up graduating from in 2012. I have always enjoyed drawing, painting and baking so I decided, why not? After school, I got a job working at Bixby’s in the St.Louis History Museum where I met my Chefs and friends, Callaghan and Erik. These two had a huge impact on me as they trusted in me, challenged me, and encouraged me on a daily basis. After about 3 years, I moved on to work at Butlers Pantry as a baker. During my time at Butlers, I had a great group of girls that I was lucky enough to have learned from. Each brought a different talent which was exciting because in the industry you never stop learning from others. After a few years at Butlers, I headed to 801 Chophouse in Clayton as the executive pasty chef which I was only at for a few months. My grandfather got sick and my head was in a different space so after a mutual split from 801, I began staying with my grandparents for a few months to take care of them until my grandpa passed. After he passed, I found myself with no job or income so I decided to start Baked by Ashely out of my house. Orders slowly started coming in here and there but it wasn’t enough so I got a job rolling pretzels in the morning for a few hours and then headed home to start/finish custom orders I had. After about 2.5 years of this, Baked by Ashley finally became a brick and mortar.
At Baked by Ashley, we specialize in custom cakes and cookies for any event (weddings, birthday, communion, engagement etc) You will also find a variety of desserts offered on the bar for walk in customers. Baked goods change every couple of days if not daily. Everyday we will have our most popular items: cinnamon rolls, chocolate chip cookies, decorated sugar cookies and gooey butter. Other items like cake pops, muffins, scones, crumb cake, cupcakes, danish, pop tarts, brownies, blondies, cookie cake, lemon bars etc rotate in and out every couple of days. We also offer a couple of Gluten free options such as chocolate chip cookies, pop tarts, and gooey butter (but remember, we are NOT a full gluten free kitchen)
At Baked by Ashley, we are driven, creative and dedicated. We’re constantly trying to come up with new flavors, desserts and designs. We are lucky enough to be able to connect with our community through our craft and even more fortunate that they are taking a liking to it! Customer satisfaction is extremely important to us, if it weren’t for them, we would not be in business. At times, it can be nerve wracking having someone give you a vision and trusting you with it but seeing their reaction when they come in to pick up the custom order is a reminder why we do this.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
Building capital for your business is definitely not easy. It’s long hours and hard work to save up the money and sometimes it’s never enough. In the beginning it felt like every time I turned around someone was constantly wanting money for something and my doors hadn’t even opened yet. I had a little money saved but that wasn’t near what I needed. Luckily I had someone who believed in me and helped me with my capital. I think everyone has an idea of what their start up cost is going to be and I think they slowly learn it’s not enough. I would double what you have in mind and reach to save that. You have to leave room for extra costs, permits, renovation, decor etc. You don’t realize how quickly it all adds up until you start to see the money decreasing. It sounds cliche but there were a lot of sleepless nights, tears and times I thought “ what if people don’t like anything I make? What if I fail? if this doesn’t work, I’m screwed financially.” However, I was determined to open my doors so made business decisions accordingly to ensure I had the finances that I needed.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
When I was opening, I posted on different forms or social media which gave me great notice within in community. After a few weeks, word of mouth became even bigger for me than social media. I’ve found a lot of people are cutting social media out of their lives today so I’ve learned that I may have to count on others to do the advertising for me. I did have a good clientele that followed me from my at home bakery to my brick and mortar which I am grateful for! Most everyone who comes in today says “someone told them about this place so they just had to stop in.” By having a store front in a shopping complex has also given me an opportunity to increase my customer base. Im fortunate to be in a place among other businesses who also who promote my small business and product. For that, I am thankful!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bakedbyashleystl.com
- Instagram: bakedby_ashley_
- Facebook: BakedbyAshleySTL
- Yelp: Baked by Ashley