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

Emily, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear your thoughts about family businesses.

Even though I am the sole owner, and employee of my business, I consider it to be a family business. I love the idea of family businesses, even with some downsides that might occur. For us, because all decisions are on me, it’s easy. I’m the boss, with the added benefit of outside help. For normal family businesses, one pitfall might be conflict, or differing opinions. With everyone on different pages, it can get complicated. Thankfully, I have the final say.

As for the next generation joining, I have thought about that often. Our son is disabled and I stay home to care for him. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t cross my mind that my business might one day employ him as well. I would absolutely love for him to have a safe place to work and for me to pass that on to him.

My view on family businesses comes from the love and support of three key family members; my son, my husband, and my sister. My son is incredibly proud of everything I do and is our cheerleader. My husband has more of a business background and helps with logistics and keeping me on track. My sister helps with the creative ideas and is the best taste tester! With these three in my corner, I can’t help but consider this as our family 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 back background and context?

I have only ever wanted to be two things; a mom and a baker. In 2018 I thought one of those would never happen; being a baker. Our son was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and Autism, and ultimately I decided to permanently stay home to care for him. At first, he was in school part time, and then Covid hit and he took up a lot of my time. Then when school returned to normal and I had more free time I wanted to start something for myself.

At the beginning of 2023 is when I really focused my business on baking. I had sewn items prior to that, but baking is really what my business is focusing on currently. A few months later I had an amazing friend invest in the business by buying me a freeze dryer. Even though freeze dried candy is popular, I wanted to be different and started freeze drying my own baked goods. Over the course of 2023 I tried new things, and found my footing.

At the beginning of 2024 I made the choice to change the name of my business. Up until then I was Weekend Koze; which came about with the creation of my first sewn product. I started out making sewn fabric sleeves for coffee cups, that I named Kozes. The intention behind the name change was to eventually open a store front. With help from my sister, we thought up The Koze Pantry. The name change has allowed me to really focus on a well curated group of products. I currently offer freeze dried sweets & confections, glasses, hand painted mugs, tie dyed towels, tote bags, and other kitchen accessories.

Starting in February of 2025 I will be baking fresh products and offering delivery. Unfortunately, the dream of a store front is being pushed back due to unforeseen circumstances. My hope is that I can gain a bigger following by baking more fresh products and offering to deliver them.

How’d you think through whether to sell directly on your own site or through a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc.

I currently have my own website that goes through Shopify. It has it’s limits, but I feel like it’s the best option for me right now. Not all of my products can be shipped nationwide, and places like Amazon and Etsy would probably not be a good fit.

I feel like those just starting out will be able to learn enough from Shopify to be able to use their platform. They have forums and support staff to help, but for the most part I’ve been able to do everything on my own to build it. I also like that there is a POS system in place as well. I do a lot of events and it’s easy to have everything go through my website to keep my stock straight. The one downside is actually getting people to your site. Traffic is slow at times, but if you are already more popular on social media, you might not have that issue.

I tried Etsy too many years ago to truly remember why I didn’t like it, but I don’t hear the best things about it anymore. I know it has a built in traffic, but there are a tons of options of sellers. I would rather have less traffic, but traffic that is only there for me.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I feel like the last decade has been nothing but pivoting for me. I never once saw myself being a stay at home parent and that change hasn’t been easy. Going from a full time job, and income, to nothing, was scary. At first I wasn’t staying home permanently, it was just until our son was in school full time. Then he was diagnosed and things changed. I still had this hope that I could go back to work at some point, but at the end of 2023 it became clear that it was unlikely that I would ever work outside the home again.

I had to really think about what I wanted for myself, and up until Nov 2024 I thought I was working towards opening a store some day. With another diagnosis, unfortunately I am having to pivot again. I think pivoting in life, and business, is a skill. A skill that I didn’t have until recently. You can think your life is going to go exactly as you expect it, but it has other plans sometimes. Those plans, for me, have turned into something amazing; the ability to care for my son and still bake.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://TheKozePantry.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_koze_pantry/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thekozepantry