We were lucky to catch up with Cory Anderson recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Cory thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One deeply underappreciated facet of entrepreneurship is the kind of crazy stuff we have to deal with as business owners. Sometimes it’s crazy positive sometimes it’s crazy negative, but crazy experiences unite entrepreneurs regardless of industry. Can you share a crazy story with our readers?
Before Baby Deer opened, a friend of mine who is an award-winning producer/director/actor in New York reached out and asked me to help develop six cookie recipes to represent the main characters in a production of Love’s Labour’s Lost. I shipped of sample batches for them to taste and, once we finalized everything, I locked in the recipes and sent them over. About a week before the show, they reached out and asked a favor- was there any way I could bake and ship all the cookies to the theatre because they were swamped? Obviously, I said yes. So I baked, sandwiched, iced, filled, packaged 1000 cookies and shipped them to New York….and they got lost in the mail. 1000 cookies just never showed up. So, in the span of two days, while performing four nights a week and working my 9-5. I baked them all AGAIN and this time they arrived (thank goodness). Still one of the most absurd things I’ve done, but the absolute most fun.
Flash forward to 2020 and this, now off-Broadway theatre company is producing an immersive, virtual production of Twelfth Night and asked me, as the owner and head baker of Baby Deer, to be the Food Designer.
I should point out that Food of Love Productions does Shakespeare with gourmet tasting menus fully integrated into the script. Their production of Midsummer: A Banquet had the actors serving up smoked mushroom and olive kebabs in glass jars that flooded you with the smell of a forest when you opened them. So when I say immersive theater, I mean you are in the world of the play with the actors.
The challenge was to create that level of immersion over zoom. How could the audience cook along with the actors during the show and eat what they saw on stage/screen? We workshopped a bunch of different ideas, I tested and retested recipes and we finally settled on a mini muffin, a decorate-your-own mini King Cake and a bake-along cookie mix. We filmed instructional videos for all three recipes so the audience could recreate them before or after the performance and we worked out the timing of each step so the actors could bake in real time when they were on stage. The most exhilarating, crazy logistical puzzle ever. And then came the week of the show.
Tickets were sold for individuals and families and included a link to a live-streamed performance as well as a box of immersive elements that tied into the show: crazy socks, chocolate coins, popcorn, bubbles, ring pops … and the baked goods and cookie mix. Tickets were sold up until a few days before the performance and boxes were being shipped overnight. Which meant I had a day, maybe two, to bake and package everything. And then I needed to assemble the boxes for shipping. I think I baked for 16 straight hours, fell asleep in my clothes, baked for another 8 hours then showered and started packing boxes. Thank goodness my now-fiancé anticipated that 200 boxes with 12-16 items each was not a small task and showed up with dinner and reinforcements. Because we packaged for hours. Every single surface was covered with boxes except for tiny aisles for us to walk through while we went down the line with the next item to be tucked neatly into place. And then poor UPS arrived to pick up the packages the next morning and the driver hadn’t been warned that there were 200 boxes up a small flight of stairs. Probably the craziest experience ever, but I would do it again in a heartbeat (with some lessons learned). The only thing I would change is the fact that, since it was early in lockdown and we had an international cast, I never got to meet most of them in person. And I would absolutely have shown up to the cast party with hugs and (more) cakes.
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?
Baking (and cooking) has always been a creative outlet for me and sharing food is definitely one of my love languages (or maybe the way I express any and all of the love languages). When I moved to Atlanta, more often than not, I baked for my weekly acting classes and I give full credit to the idea of creating Baby Deer to my teachers and classmates. People would ask whether I thought about baking as a business and I always brushed it off until a month when three or four people asked back-to-back. It was really an “Ok, Universe, I hear you.” moment. I researched the legalities of it, went through all the certifications, and dove in. The name “Baby Deer Bakery” actually comes from my nickname in that acting class.
I knew from the start that if I was going to have a bakery, I wanted it to be as inclusive as possible so vegan and gluten free options were mandatory for me. I have a number of close friends with severe food allergies and it’s just never sat well with me that they have to bring their own food to parties. As far as I’m concerned, everyone should have the option of birthday cake! If I’m hosting a party, I am the person that will make sure there is something safe for everyone, regardless of what allergies I need to work with. Thank goodness for that part of my personality (and my friends with allergies educating and trusting me), because I’d already learned so much about allergy-safe baking and how to substitute ingredients…
Baby Deer strives to be a bakery for everyone. If you’re looking for a birthday cake made with all the traditional ingredients, we’ve got you covered. And if you need a pie that’s free from 8 different allergens, we’ll work with you to figure out a recipe so your favorite dessert is part of your holiday table. We’re not magicians, but we are stubborn and if there is a way to make it happen, we will make it happen. As far as I’m concerned, if we are baking for you, you are family and family always deserves dessert filled with love and care.
The other part of Baby Deer that I am most proud of is our commitment to giving back. Cookie of the Month Club donates 15% of the gross profits to Kellsie’s Hope Foundation to support families battling (often relapsed) pediatric cancer. We’ve been connected to Kellsie’s Hope, on a personal level, for years, so it was a no-brainer to use Cookie Club as a way to make a bigger difference. Locally, we donated all prizes for Summer Reading and have teamed up with non-profits to bake on behalf of their mission or to create thank you gifts for their employees or clients.
At its core, Baby Deer exists for you. Whether you are celebrating a birthday, a holiday, the start of basketball season, or just because its Tuesday- we are here to add some sweetness to your day and hopefully make your life a little easier. Our core menu is filled with cookies, cakes, and cupcakes, along with a new collection of items with fruits and veggies baked in for those of you who asked for a way to sneak some more veggies into your life. But we LOVE getting creative. Special holiday offerings? Always. Random scone craving? Here for it. A cake or cookie flavor that isn’t on the menu but is everything your heart desires? Bring it on, let’s get creative and make some baking magic. We’re here to bake for you, so let us know what you want! (and hopefully there are left over cookie and cake scraps for us, because we get jealous of the orders we send out and don’t get to taste.)
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
I’m a recovering perfectionist and people pleaser. I tend to bite off as much as I think (correctly or not) I can chew and I don’t like inconveniencing other people by asking for help because everyone has so much already on their plates. I like being the person that no one has to worry about because they know I’ll get my stuff done and done well. So, I’m not always good at saying no or asking for help.
A few years ago, I was working as an Executive Assistant for a non-profit. My boss was this brilliant woman who was leading programs in three counties, bringing major ideas to the table for the organization as a whole, mentoring and supervising the program directors…she was a rock star and she (and the program directors she lead) empowered me to take on big projects and really give my skillsets opportunities to thrive. I was writing annual or bi-annual reports detailing the work and impact of at least three, sometimes five, programs; I was coordinating meetings and travel and agendas; I was diving in to help with whatever anyone needed and I loved it. It was a steep learning curve at times, especially since I existed as a team of one more often than not.
At one of my annual reviews, my boss made a really surprising comment- she hadn’t been giving me enough support. It stopped my brain in its tracks. It had genuinely never occurred to me that my boss or coworkers were there to support me. Give me the data I needed so that I could support them? Sure. But I never even thought to ask for support so I could take on less or get more guidance than was offered as I navigated new parts of my job. It sounds so ridiculous in hindsight, but it blew my mind.
Full disclosure, that moment did not make me good at asking for help or knowing when I need it, but it made the biggest difference because the option existed and it’s something I’ve tried to incorporate more. I think so often we (or at least I) try to be all things to all people and that’s an unfair expectation to put on ourselves. So now I try to at least recognize when I’ve overestimated my bandwidth and learn from it for next time and to practice asking for help on inconsequential things so that it isn’t so foreign when I need to ask for help on something bigger. It’s a work in progress, but it makes an enormous difference to give myself the option to not always do it all.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Earlier this year, I was diagnosed with Long Covid and Chronic Fatigue. More or less overnight, I went from a perfectly healthy person who ran marathons, walked all over new cities, spent full days on her feet baking, acting, cheering on my friends and family (I was basically a crossover between the Energizer Bunny and a Disney Princess) to being unable to leave my house unassisted. Covid hit me harder than most people I knew, but I figured I would be back on my feet after the usual 10-14 days and ready to dive back into my life as I knew it. Instead, it was about a month and a half before I could walk without being intensely dizzy and out of breath. Months on, I’m much more stable than I was, but life as I knew it is never an option, even on the best days. Simple things like popping to the grocery store because we’re out of milk are no longer simple and can wear me out for days, if I’m up to attempting it at all. It could be better, but it could also be much worse.
Baking was the first thing I started reintroducing when I was strong enough to sit up for extended periods and it has been such a bright spot for me. We’ve added chairs to the kitchen so I can bake even when I don’t have the stamina to stand for hours. And luckily, baking has built in gaps. I can mix all the batter or dough and then rest while it bakes and cools. Frosting and packaging are easy to handle from a stool or a chair, if need be. And since I coordinate deliveries with each customer, it’s been easy to find times and places that minimize traversing long distances and when I have a surprisingly hard day, there are people ready to jump in and help deliver cakes and cookies.
Chronic Fatigue has definitely changed how I organize and pace baking (and life), but it’s also given me a huge opportunity to be intentional about what and how I work. Before, I was juggling a lot of different things that I loved, now I’m juggling a lot less so Baby Deer gets a much larger percentage of my attention and energy. There’s more time for research and recipe development so the flavor and adaptability of our products continues to improve. I’ve done so much recipe testing for next year! But seeing the people in our Baby Deer community is the best part, no contest. I already loved getting to chat with everyone at pickups, but it’s taken on deeper meaning now.
The past months have taught me to be extraordinarily intentional about prioritizing the things that matter. Baking is such a celebration. We use cakes and cookies and treats to mark occasions, so being part of those important moments in time for people is such an honor and a joy. Every time I get to bake, it lights me up. I have so much fun creating and pouring love into every recipe and sharing it is, forgive the pun, the icing on the cake.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.babydeerbakery.com
- Instagram: @babydeerbakery
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/babydeerbakery
Image Credits
Headshot: C Dyer Photography