Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Courtney Cole. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Courtney, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

I started Courtney Bakes with an intention to bring inclusivity to the world of baking. As someone who suffers from many food intolerances myself, I understand how hard it can be to find not only something delicious that has been catered to my dietary needs but a place where I AND my kids (who do not have intolerances) can go and get something together.

Courtney Bakes caters to everyone. Through lots of hard work, research, late nights and early mornings I found smart ways to make swaps in the healthiest ways possible. I use many organic ingredients and I couldn’t be more proud to say that ALL of my menus are available gluten-free and dairy-free with tons of egg-free, nut-free and vegan options as well! It brings me so much joy to say I can truly make something for everyone!

Courtney, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Courtney Cole,I am a 35 year old single mom of two amazing little people who also happen to be my biggest supporters. This business sprouted from a very dark time in my life. In November of 2020 I got covid and despite being young and healthy I ended up in the hospital. After coming home, I was without taste and smell for almost 5 months (I know how lucky I am now that it was ONLY 5 months because for so many there was no recovery). I was depressed and having formerly been a cocktail creator I found myself wondering what I was going to do to support my family once I got better.

My taste and smell slowly came back but with it a slew of GI and other health issues. In 2021 I went gluten-free and felt some relief, I live/d on many highly restrictive diets trying to find a way to exist through the chronic pain/inllness. I found myself sinking into an even darker place, missing the simplest of things I had always found joy in like baking.

I did a lot of self work and eventually found myself thinking differently, feeling grateful instead of sad. Grateful that I had only just begun the journey I was on. I started thinking that if I feel this way, how many other people living with allergies and intolerances have been possibly feeling this way their entire lives. Desperate for some kind of normalcy I pulled out my old recipes box and started altering my old recipes to be gluten-free, dairy-free etc. I’ll never forget the feeling after taking a bite of my first home baked gluten-free chocolate chip cookie, it felt like I was home again.

In April of 2022 I launched Courtney Bakes “catering delicious treats to YOUR dietary needs”. I hit the ground running and I haven’t stopped, because it turns out I was right, there are so many people out there just like me. I haven’t just been able to find joy in this business I have also found a deep sense of gratitude for the fact that I am able to do something I love so very much.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

The best source of new clients for me and what gave me the true ability to take this on as my full time employment has been Farmer’s markets. I started markets in a couple of nearby communities and was overwhelmed with kindness, support and so much gratitude, serving the allergy community as well as the “regular” community has really set me apart from the rest.

We’d love to hear about how you keep in touch with clients.

I am currently only accepting orders via Facebook and Instagram. This has given we the wonderful ability to build relationships with my customers, and to assure they are getting not only great customer service but EXACTLY what they want. I am getting ready to build a website so this way of working will have to pivot slightly. My hope with adding a new website will be to deliver the same level of customer service just more efficiently!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: courtneyybakes
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CourtneyyBakes?mibextid=ZbWKwL
• Other: [email protected]