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

Delainy, appreciate you joining us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

My son was 1.5 years old and my mom passed away from cancer. 6 months later my aunt passed from cancer. I was a photographer but I knew that would not be my life long career. Depression and anxiety set in and I started baking to relax. And to feed my sweet tooth because there was nothing good out there that was gluten free. My sweet tooth is small so I would invite fronds over to eat from the whole cake I would make or the muffins I would o Lu eat one of. I had no plans to open a bakery but I started selling at craft markets, then farmers markets then I decided to apply for a loan and being the sole baked goods with my application. I got the loan so I started looking for my brick and mortar. I had never worked in a commercial kitchen, never been an employer and a whole bunch more never have I Evers. I found the perfect little space on the perfect little half street in a family friendly neighborhood in east Vancouver that I still call home. It’s be over 12 years and I am still learning new things from customers and employees. It all happened so fast from 6 months in and my first employee to 12 years later and 16 employees.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I come from artists and always knew I would be doing something creative and challenging as my career. I get to be creative everyday wether it’s designing the layout of goods in the mercantile or creating a recipe. I find I also get my creative fix by the daily problem solving that is involved in running a bumping little bakery. I am a celiac who loves food so almost every recipe has been created from me having a craving. Luckily people like what I crave! I have no professional training and self taught gluten free baker.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I think the consistency of quality and the variety of flavours and products we carry helps the business grow daily. We have so many repeat customers because they know they can come get something different each day. From savoury to sweet.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I very blindly filled out a loan application with no thoughts of actually getting the loan. I come from a low income family and money was very scary to me especially in the form of a loan. I figured the most comfortable way for mw to do it would be to apply for the smallest business loan and show up with what I knew best at the time. A box of my baked goods! I was granted a $35000 and that is what I used to open. I slowly built the business up while pay off the loan. Only purchase equipment that I could afford without going further into debt. I had to lease an oven when I started and I swore I would never lease again!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.glutenfreeepicurean.ca
• Instagram: @glutenfreeepicurean
• Facebook: Gluten free epicurean
• Linkedin: Delainy Mackie