We recently connected with Justin Charboneau and have shared our conversation below.
Justin, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s jump right into the heart of things. Outsiders often think businesses or industries have much larger profit margins than they actually do – the reason is that outsiders are often unaware of the biggest challenges to profitability in various industries – what’s the biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?
Profitability in the cookie/cake/treat baking and decorating industry can vary with every order. This is primarily because this industry is based on a handmade craft of sorts and the most expensive part of decorating cookies is time.
I pride myself in designing and creating unique cookies for every order. I specialize in custom orders, so I rarely make the same designs twice. Because of this, it can be difficult to gauge profitability due to the varying time each order takes to complete. On top of that, I don’t believe many of us in this industry charge enough based on the time and effort that goes into every set of cookies!
When it comes to baking, the best way to gauge profitability starts with the ingredients. If you know how much the cost of ingredients are, then you can estimate how long the set of cookies will take to decorate, and you can charge accordingly to hit/get closer to your profit goals!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
The delicious journey that is now SugarTats Cookie Company began in late 2019 with a simple google search of “space-themed dessert ideas”. I decided to try my hand at cookie decorating as a dessert for a dinner party my wife Brittany and I were having with friends. I quickly fell in love with this new creative outlet and began baking cookies on the weekends and taking them into work every week. Before long, coworkers and friends began placing orders, and I decided to turn this hobby into a business and launched SugarTats Cookie Co. in April 2020.
Since starting my company, I have been featured as a contestant on Food Network’s Christmas Cookie Challenge show and have continuously grown my customer base with my detailed decorating style and tasty cookies. I believe there is always a reason to celebrate with cookies!
It is no surprise to anyone how much I love cookies, but the reason goes much deeper than the ingredients. Cookies bring people together and help create memories in some of life’s most important moments. I am grateful my cookies help bring joy to others, which is why I love what I do!
Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?
When I started SugarTats Cookie Co. I didn’t think it was going to be too expensive. I mean, all you need is an oven and some ingredients right? It’s true, starting a cookie decorating business was not expensive and that was primarily because my house already had an oven. What I didn’t realize in the beginning was that in order to be more profitable, I needed some tools to help me be more efficient.
When I first began baking I didn’t have a stand mixer so I was mixing all my dough by hand. I give my wife a ton of credit for pushing me in this moment of creating my business because within my frustration of hand mixing, when I talked with her about wanting to buy a stand mixer she told me I should sell the cookies and let the business buy it for me! A couple months later, buying my first mixer was so much more rewarding than if I would have just gone to the store that first day!
The first mixer turned into two, my single oven turned into a kitchen expansion with a double oven, then came the 3D printer for cookie cutters and the dehydrator to dry icing layers quicker. These tools definitely add up, but I have worked hard to network and get my name out there to drive cookie orders and bring in the funds to put into these things. With the help of these tools as well, my efficiency and capacity have greatly increased which allowed me to pay for/pay off all of them quickly.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
In order to build my reputation within my market I work hard on showing me, as much as I show my cookies when it comes to social media etc. I am unique in the fact that I am one of the only male cookie decorators in my area. Because of that, I want to show people who I am in addition to my talents with cookie decorating.
Once I connect with a customer, I do my best to go above and beyond with communication and work with them to produce cookies that are better than they could have imagined! I also love to give references of fellow Cookiers in the area if I am unable to accommodate a customers order based on availability. I have found that even sending customers to someone else when needed still results in them returning to me for future orders.
The name SugarTats Cookie Co. ties into my appearance because I am covered in tattoos, and therefore becomes part of my brand that I use to get customers to remember me as well!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sugartatscookies.com
- Instagram: @sugartatscookies
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/justin.charboneau.73