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

Hi Kim, thanks for joining us today. Let’s talk about innovation. What’s the most innovative thing you’ve done in your career?

One of the biggest challenges I feared when starting my business was food allergies. I have food allergies myself, and have no nuts or peanuts in my home. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to take half as many orders as the next baker because I cannot have any nuts in my treats. I decided to be upfront from the beginning and term myself as a nut free bakery, hoping to prevent people asking for nuts in their ordering.

I did not realize the need there was for a nut free bakery, and my fears are actually what helped lead me to fast growth and success. I started getting requests for other allergy friendly desserts, and started experimenting and figuring out how to accommodate all sorts of allergies.

I am now a nut free, and allergy friendly bakery. I can accommodate gluten, dairy, soy, egg, and dye free orders, on top of maintaining my nut free status. This has helped lead to my growth since I am the only baker in my area that is educated in food allergies and can provide safe treats with little risk of cross contamination.

I have been able to expand my business and become a recognizable business in my community because of my uniquenesses. Many customers go with me because of allergy needs, but come back for other events since my treats don’t discount flavor when it comes to the food limitations. I have also been approved by schools in the area that are nut free, and have worked with them on large orders and provided treats for students with allergies.

Being able to provide much needed products to those who many have never had a professionally baked good before has been the highlight of my experience. Because of my personal allergy struggles, I know the feeling of finally being able to safely enjoy something I’m eating, and the gratitude I have when that is made possible. I am beyond grateful I am able to give that enjoyment to others, and I hope I can grow and continue to give that enjoyment for many years to come.

Kim, 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?

Like many people, I began baking around the holidays and learning from my Grandma. I started getting more interested in the hobby of baking a little over 15 years ago, and have been perfecting the craft since then. I started baking for fun, for potluck events, and for friends birthdays. After my grandma passed and I had some health issues after my daughters birth, I started baking more and more. I took the leap and started my business in 2020, and haven’t looked back.

I started off my journey by only offering peanut and nut free products, because I couldn’t make them myself anyways, and egg free for my son. The more I networked and grew, the more people had requests for diary free, vegan, and gluten free items, which I didn’t offer at the time. Because of the overwhelming amount of requests for this, I started doing research on other food allergies, and what I would need to learn to make these desserts possible.

It has taken a few years, and a lot of experimenting, but I perfected some recipe’s to be able to accommodate many food restrictions. I can’t do it all, but I try to accommodate as many restrictions that are possible. The most difficult orders are the ones that are gluten, dairy, soy, egg, and dye free, but I’ve been successful at finding solutions for those orders and creating something special for those individuals that still taste amazing.

I personally think desserts should taste as good as they look, so I use higher quality ingredients and make all of my desserts from scratch. I love being able to play with flavor combinations, and try new ingredients. My favorite ingredient right now is vanilla beans from Hawaii. I want my customers to not only be happy in my artistic piece, but also enjoy the experience. From ordering, to the last crumb, my goal is to make their event special.

I look forward to every opportunity that pushes my limits and gets me to try something new. I get a lot of enjoyment from learning new skills, and am grateful that my baking gives me those opportunities almost daily.

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

I have always been a crafty person. I would steal my mom’s paint and craft supplies when I was younger, or bake a box mix when I was a teen and try to do something new with it. (all instances I would get in trouble for not cleaning up my messes) In college, I tried my hand a photography, but couldn’t pose people to save my grade, but I still ended up taking a digital design class. I fell in love with graphic design and changed it to my minor. It has been the smartest thing I probably ever did as a “hobby.”

After a few years and 2 adorable kids, I would still gravitate to things that would let me artistic nature run wild. I would make graphics for anything or anyone I could, I would bake for any type of get together, and overall, do what I could to stay busy. I never considered myself an artist, because I couldn’t “draw” well. It wasn’t until after I opened my baking business that I realized there are many types of art, and not all artists can do all the different types.

When I started my business, it was something to bring in some extra cash around Christmas, and to feed my soul. I undercharged- not knowing how it hurt others in the business- and I did it to have fun and help my friends. Soon, I started getting requests from friends of friends, and looked into how to actually run a business.

Quickly, I learned how to layout cost of each product, including time and labor, and learned how to price appropriately. I joined groups of bakers and learned a lot from them. I started marketing myself through social media, learned all about SEO, and visited different networking groups in my area. I would keep learning at every turn, and adjust my business as I went.

I have just passed the 3 year anniversary of creating my business, and I have worked with it full time for almost 2 years. I grew rapidly because of my unique offerings of allergy friendly treats, and my willingness to learn and evolve over the years. I don’t actually recommend growing that quickly, it’s a lot to juggle and change in your life so quickly and it does get overwhelming at points. I’m grateful for the support I have from my family, especially my husband, in being able to help me through the learning curve and pursue my passions.

Looking back, the journey has felt longer than it has been, but I also know I’m only in the beginning. I have learned so much since jumping in feet first, and it has lead me to more opportunities I used to only dream of. I have loved building my own business and I look forward to all the adventures it’s leading me to.

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

Like many bakers, I started with a Google form and a mobile payment app. Once I started selling to friends of friends, I personally felt that wasn’t the most reliable way for a business. With my graphic design background, I started building my own site, but with the limitations of cost that comes with a hobby business. As I grew, so did my site, but that quickly became a lot to manage with a growing business. I couldn’t do as much as I wanted with the budget I had at the time, and needing to update everything constantly was digging into my decorating time.

Around this time, I heard of a new company called Castiron. They are a hosting platform for cottage businesses. They were still starting up, and liked that they were interested in making their platform specifically for this industry. I have used them to host my site for the past couple years. I have been in their focus groups to help give my opinions, and they are always looking for better ways to help us succeed in our businesses. Together with the help of other cottage businesses, they have created a platform where I can sell products, send quotes, and overall make my ordering process as easy as possible.

I still host my site through Castiron, with my own domain. They are still growing into their vision, and improving their site for what we need, but they have come a long way quickly and listen to the consumer. I can sell products for holidays, send and update quotes, gather payment, and much more. I’m extremely happy with their services and their staff. I’ve contacted them on many occasions with suggestions or with bugs that I see, and they are quick to act. If you are looking for a solution for your cottage business, or any small business that requires products and quotes, I highly suggest trying them out.

Contact Info:

• Website: wesleystreatshalliessweets.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/wesleys_treats_hallies_sweets/
• Facebook: facebook.com/WesleysTreatsHalliesSweets
• Other: Google- https://maps.app.goo.gl/cW5ABQhv1C7GekwQ8