We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Bunny Moultrie. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Bunny below.

Bunny, appreciate you joining us today. We believe kindness is contagious and so we’d love for you to share with us and our audience about the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?

When I first decided that “I was a baker” now after a 8 year career in beauty, my mother sent me a kitchaid stand mixer for Christmas. I was so anxious about it too. I just started baking what if this just quickly became a hobby or I realized I really didn’t want to bake for a living. It felt like she believed in me before I believed in myself. She always called me to find out what I’m baking that day and asked for pictures. On this 7 year journey she has flew from South Carolina to New York to help me sell at my events without hesitation.Last summer she moved in to help me manage and bake for over almost a dozen markets I had in one month. Packaging about thousand drinks, cookies, brownies and more. Believing in my dreams really helped me flourish

Bunny, 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?

As a born and raised a military brat I’ve been exposed to food around the world and became accustomed to eating any and everything. My family is southern so naturally my favorite cuisine has and will always be “Southern soul food”. I worked at so many restaurants as server just due to my love of food. So imagine the shock when I told everyone I was going vegan in hopes to lower my carbon footprint and test my discipline. I found a lot of food that i enjoyed and of course quite a bit that I simply just did not. Desserts was the biggest miss by far. Everything was just too granola or way too sugary. I missed having a treat that was decadent, indulgent, and full of flavor. I found myself in my Brooklyn studio recreating some of my childhood favorites except they were vegan! I had a friend who invited me to a vegan food pop up and the experience stuck with me. I met so many vendors telling me their stories and I felt seen. People just like you and I were creating businesses to fill a void that they felt was missing. I knew when I left the event that I wanted to be a part of the vegan food community.

I started off just applying for all the markets I could find in the NYC area until someone gave me a chance to sell my treats. It was far from a success. I might have made $50 in two day after spending $200 and 16 hours selling. I mean this wasn’t even my main job so I was exhausted but not discouraged. I still had a good time and I’m not a person who gives up easily. I truly enjoy a challenge. I would bake cinnamon rolls, brownies, cakes etc any vegan desserts that was hard to find back in 2016. My 2nd event was a vegan event and I sold out completely and got lots of feedback. I learned that when you truly want something you will do anything to make it work and you’ll sacrifice a lot for it.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

My senior year of high school was super scary for me. I never knew what I wanted to do. But beauty and food have been my 2 consistent dreams. After I got my esthetic license in South Carolina, I moved to Brooklyn and had a pretty great career. I was 21 with my own apartment and car which was very unheard of in New York. But no amount of money stopped the fantasies I had about baking being a new career for me. So worked at the salon 3 -4 days a week and I sold my goods at various events on The Weeknd. I mean events from DC to Miami all from my apartment. Some days I baked 20 hours straight, sell that weekend and go back to work. My husband drove so I could sleep in the car and we’d sell for hours with a smile on our face. I worked both jobs until 2020 when the pandemic hit. My job was closed for a while but luckily the unemployment and covid relief assistance allowed me build on my brand. I was able to fully focus on the bakery for more than 3 days a week. When it was time to return back I felt confident that i could make enough money focusing on the bakery.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

In the begining I was selling at small markets then quickly elevated to large festivals. High risk but high reward….. most of the time. Some of the vendor fees I’ve paid has been as much as $1,200 and its still hit or miss if you will make your money back let alone a profit. During the pandemic however all of the street festivals were down. So I decided to pivot to wholesale. I loved the idea of having my treats in stores. it was not as glamorous as expected. legally I had to rent a commercial kitchen space which cost about as much as renting an apartment. it did motivate me to email every store until someone wanted to try samples. so many owners tried my samples that I personally baked for them and never responded to my follow up email. One even told me that they loved my stuff but they are working exclusively with another baker. I. mean a lot of people will waste your time for free food that you spent hours on. In the end I landing about 12 stores to sell my treats too. wholesaling is a lot of work your making a lot of different products in high quantity and selling them at a fraction of the price so they could be resold. You’re met with a lot challenges like chasing businesses down to pay you on time, constantly being asked for last minute orders, and some even claiming your work. I also had to hire someone to help bake as it gets hectic doing it all plus delivering my products. I was working 6 days a week. Reality set in that wholesale was not for me. So I got into the farmers market circuit which was the best choice. I’m able to work from home, get a consistent customer base, limit the amount of different items I make a week and only travel one to two days a week. My festival and wholesale experience really helped me on working smarter and not harder.

Contact Info:

• Website: bunnysveganbakery
• Instagram: @bunnysveganbakery
• Facebook: bunnys vegan bakery