We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Karen Jenkins a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Karen, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s easy to look at a business or industry as an outsider and assume it’s super profitable – but we’ve seen over and over again in our conversation with folks that most industries have factors that make profitability a challenge. What’s biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

Businesses that serve freshly made food to customers typically walk a fine line between profitability and falling flat. My home-based micro bakery is no different and, in fact, delivers some additional hurdles unique to its line of business.

The most challenging part of owning a micro bakery is the perishable nature of my inventory.

Most, but not all, of my ingredients are shelf-stable. However, once a product is made, the freshness clock starts ticking at a much faster pace. Because I work full-time as a baking instructor at a local college, my preferred method of selling to customers is through pop-ups at local markets. Determining how much to make for any one event is a skill that has eluded me since Day One. What this usually means is that I have leftover product that won’t keep, and when the line is so thin between profit and loss, this is a huge deal.

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’m a 50-something mother of two young adult sons with a background in administrative work. After learning everything my mom could teach me about baking, I finally realized my dream of going to pastry school in my late twenties. Several years of working in the catering industry led to taking some time off to raise my two boys while keeping my skills honed by baking on the side. Some years later, I was looking for a gig with regular hours and began teaching at the Baking and Pastry Arts Program at Edmonds College and in 2017, I obtained my business license and started producing out of my home for local pop-ups.

In the state of Washington, bakers who produce out of their homes must acquire a Cottage Food Operation permit. This type of permit limits what bakers can sell, where they can sell, who they can sell to and how much they can gross. Because of these limitations, I make products that are considered low-risk, such as cookies, brownies, tarts, hand pies, enriched breads, sourdough breads, scones and chocolate confections.

What sets me apart from most other bakeries in my area is the quality of my products. Having been professionally trained by talented pastry chefs, my products are all hand-crafted with an eagle eye attention to detail and the knowhow to produce everything in a professional manner. I use exceptional ingredients, including locally grown organic flours, Belgian and French chocolates and homegrown organic produce, all of which elevate the final outcome of my products from great to outstanding.

Customers may not know all of these details about me, but I think these are extremely important things to know when deciding where to get their next sweet treat or loaf of bread. I am a one-person bakery; everything I sell – everything that is on my table at the market or on my website – is made by me and only me. For this, I am proud.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Every time I have a pop-up that flops, I wonder why I do this. The truth of the matter is, I really do love to bake and to make people happy with my baking. So, I just keep plugging away like a battery spokesbunny, hoping to be validated by the next pop-up’s sell-out.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

My business social media accounts were created when I established my business in 2017. Since then, I have been able to add followers slowly but steadily by actively posting, tagging and sharing with other bakeries, business owners and friends. My biggest boost of followers occurred a couple of years ago when a food writer for the local newspaper wrote an article about my pop-up. I had no idea why I was gaining so many followers in such a short time until a friend forwarded me the article. That said, I recommend reaching out to local writers and social media influencers – they can be a tremendous help.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kdjsthebakerie.com
• Instagram: @kdjsthebakerie
• Facebook: @kdjsthebakerie
• Linkedin: Karen Jenkins

Image Credits
All photos were taken by me, Karen Jenkins.