We recently connected with Madison Guthrie and have shared our conversation below.
Madison, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s something crazy on unexpected that’s happened to you or your business
Cookies have brought me some incredible opportunities in the past year. Back in July of this year, Raleigh hosted GalaxyCon downtown. If you aren’t familiar, GalaxyCon is described as a “festival of fandom with celebrities, artists, writers, voice actors, cosplayers, entertainers, creators, etc.” My boyfriend and I are huge movie and TV fans, so it sounded like the perfect opportunity to go see some of our favorite actors. Unfortunately we didn’t secure tickets in time.
I thought I would reach out to some of the actors and actresses that we liked that would be present for the weekend and see if there was a chance to gift them some custom, personalized cookies. By a stroke of luck, Harvey Guillén reached back out to me! Harvey Guillén is most known for his current role as Guillermo in What We Do in the Shadows and Nightwing in DC’s Harley Quinn. He was able to secure both of us passes for the last day of the convention. It was truly an incredible day and one I certainly won’t forget.
We were able to meet with Harvey and gift him his cookies. We also met Nick Frost (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead, The World’s End) and Emmy-Raver Lampman (Umbrella Academy, Central Park) and gave them both personalized cookies. Everyone was incredibly kind and so so thankful for the personalized, and edible, gift. Nick Frost was so excited about his cookie that he gifted us a sign photo from Hot Fuzz!
I honestly never thought that I would get to meet some of my favorite actors and actresses, much less gift them cookies from my own business. It was such a surreal experience, but I definitely have plans to attend other conventions and make cookies for some more of my favorite actors and actresses.
Most recently, I was able to get in contact with the band Próxima Parada. We were able to see them in concert last December when they opened up for Lawrence at Lincoln Theater and instantly fell in love with their music. On September 15th they happened to be doing a show at The Pour House in downtown Raleigh. I had a pop-up that morning back home in Duplin County, and thankfully I had some leftover cookies. I reached out and asked if they’d be open to me swinging by and gifting them some cookies. Of course with no hesitation they were all for it! They were some of the sweetest people I have ever met, and were so thankful for the cookies. They even gifted me a t-shirt as a thank you. We snagged some pictures together as well that can be seen on my Instagram page.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Madison Guthrie. I am a graduate of NC State University (2021) with a major in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing.
I have grown up in the food industry, so it definitely runs through my blood. I grew up loving to bake and would bake a lot with my grandmothers and mother for almost every occasion. In high school, stress baking definitely took a spot at the front of my life. My classmates and teachers had absolutely no issue with that. That pattern continued into college, but turned more into a passion than just stress baking. Although, it did still help maintain my stress.
In my junior year of college, I got my first bakery job where I was better able to practice some of my marketing and managerial skills. It was in September 2020 that I really started to develop the love for decorated sugar cookies. My boss allowed me to start making holiday cookies at the bakery on a regular basis. Through that and custom orders for friends and family, I was able to slowly grow in my skill and perfect certain techniques.
In February 2022, after having been graduated for almost a year and slowly prepping to make the big move, I decided to quit my bakery job and file for a business license. By March, I had found a kitchen location to operate from and was officially a business.
Yellow Garden Bake Shop has been a concept since the summer of 2019, but in March 2022 it became a reality. I cannot thank those who have helped me get to this point enough.
Yellow Garden Bake Shop provides custom cookies to help celebrate special life moments or even just to celebrate getting through another week. We offer custom cookies, classic drop cookies, cookie sandwiches, cookie cakes, and soon will offer pies and loaf cakes for the holiday season.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
When I first started, I really wanted to stick to custom orders. I quickly learned that my schedule would be quite open each month if that was all I was doing. I looked into the pop-up circuit in Raleigh and talked to Rachel Schneider of Schneider’s Baking Co. and Andrew McCook of The Blue Ox Bakery who really helped me get started and find my footing in the pop-up circuit. I truly don’t think I would have kept my cool and gotten everything figured out if it hadn’t have been for them.
Pop-ups have really helped me build connections with other vendors and customers. A good portion of custom orders I have had in recent months have been for previous pop-up customers or even pop-up coordinators.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
Once I determined that I would one day want to open my business, probably around my sophomore year of college, I began setting aside money for this endeavor. From random shifts back at my first job (Cora’s Isle-End Deli, Topsail Beach, NC) to each paycheck from the bakery job, I would set aside a bit from each check. This went on for about three years before I made the move.
In reality, I probably should have saved up more, but I had enough at that point to get the licenses I needed and pay the first two months of rent at a shared kitchen space. If I was given the chance to go back, I probably would have held a stable job for at least another couple of months just to save a bit more money. In reality, I wouldn’t change a single decision I made at the time.
Contact Info:
- Website: YellowGardenBakeShop.com
- Instagram: @YellowGardenBakeShop
- Facebook: Facebook.com/YellowGardenBakeShop
- Other: Email: [email protected]
Image Credits
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