We were lucky to catch up with Melissa Lyall recently and have shared our conversation below.

Melissa, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

Graphic Design was my first passion, but baking for others especially for their birthday, was another love. It was a way to connect with my coworkers, break the ice. I enjoyed the challenge of baking something new and the joy of making someone feel special. Everyone continuously encouraged me to start my own business. I smiled and joked that when I tire of designing maybe I’ll do it.

One day I thought, what could I bake? All of the treats I make don’t always look picture perfect but always taste amazing. Without overwhelming myself, I thought why not cookies?! But there are so many different cookie businesses out there. How about shortbread cookies? I brought some samples into work and a couple of friends mentioned if I ever made gluten-free cookies they would snag them up in a heartbeat. That got me thinking, so I researched and saw there wasn’t very many gluten-free only bakeries out there and definitely wasn’t any shortbread. I have found my niche!

What should I call this company? Not sure why I was looking up name meanings but My name, Melissa, means honeybee. My middle name meant sunrise. There it was, Honeybee Sunrise. This got my creative mind going. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to incorporate honey into my cookies to connect to the name honeybee. Disclosing that I am a type 2 diabetic, I have learned that honey is a natural sweetener that does not spike your blood sugar so badly. In my research I discovered honey sugar. Which is dehydrated honey. This got me excited. Now I could create a cookie that was gluten and diabetic friendly!

I leaned on my GF friends and asked questions on what they have to lookout for to avoid getting sick. I tried out different flours and made sure I kept everything clean from cross-contamination. Then it was just a matter of what flavors to make. I found so many recipes it was difficult to decided so I made samples used my friends for testers. No one got sick, my sugar didn’t spike out of control – Success!

To go a step further, I didn’t want to waste all those recipes I discovered so I thought I would keep things fun and interesting. Why not have a Cookie of the Month? Every month people can vote for the cookie flavor they would like to try for the next upcoming month. It would be added with the original 6 flavors that are available everyday.

Melissa, 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?

I’m originally from a college town, Cape Girardeau, Missouri. I was raised by a single mom who usually worked 2 jobs and so did I in. high school. After I graduated, I joined the Army and served my active duty. After I got out I went to college for about 9 months and was activated to be deployed to Iraq. I was deployed for around 18 months and when I finally returned home I went back to college and graduated Salutatorian with a Bachelors of Arts in Graphic Design.

I was living in Chicago at the time and I watched a movie, The Waitress. Something in the story inspired me to want to bake something more than just from a box. I began experimenting with recipes and slowly taught myself to bake and I loved it. This is when I began bringing in my experiments to work. I mean who doesn’t like free sugar? People would request desserts I myself had never even tried personally or had a clue to even make. I enjoyed the challenge and the adventure of making my own twist on things.

It wasn’t until a few years ago I ran into some food restriction challenges. The biggest one was gluten. I didn’t know anything about gluten free foods, but what I did know is that some gluten free foods didn’t taste as great. I avoided trying to do gluten free recipes but you know how the universe just starts throwing little sparks of ideas at you? Well one day I thought what if I help try to bring joy to that small group of people that don’t get to enjoy treats like the rest of us? So my new quest was to learn about gluten free foods.

I started with tasting different shortbreads out there, so I knew what it should taste and feel like. Then I began trying to bake my own. Trying different flours and different butters. I even learned to make my own butter. That was eye opening. Even thought about starting an additional side business making butter, to be continued.

My recipes didn’t turn out as great as I hoped at first but one day the ingredients, the temp and the time came together. I solved my problem and began implementing my recipe with other flavors. Eureka!

Okay time to put myself out there, I asked friends, those with and without food restrictions. I made clear I wanted a very honest review. I learned a few people were not fans of GF foods but we were both surprised that the flavors of the cookies turned out so well. I’m always open to any feedback when it comes to my cookies. I do put the same amount of love and passion into my baking as I do with being a designer.

One of the biggest challenges since I’ve launched Honeybee Sunrise is trying to make it easier to get the cookies to the customer. I’ve had many people reach out to want see or purchase the cookies in person. I have taken all the steps to make my business a legit company, following all food safety regulations. Unfortunately I work out of my home and not able to set up a physical place where people can come visit, taste or even purchase from me directly.

Currently I am a veteran-owned, made-to-order bakery that specializes in gluten and diabetic friendly shortbread cookies. Once you place your order, I’ll make the cookies and ship them to you right away in order to ensure the cookies arrive to you as fresh as possible. I hope in the future I will have an opportunity to open up a little shop where you can come in, try some samples, and purchase right away but right now I hope people will have patience until that day comes.

In the meantime, I welcome everyone to follow me on this journey and keep checking in every month for a chance to vote on the next months Cookie of the Month for a chance to try a new flavor of shortbread cookie.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Once I knew I wanted to start Honeybee Sunrise, I mentioned to friends and family and asked if they would be interested in helping me get the word out. With an overwhelming show of support I sent them a samples of shortbread cookies in exchange for an honest review to help create an online presence for the company. This also helped me notice little gaps and allowed me to pivot to fill in any issues.

Since then, I experiment with recipes beyond my original 6 flavors as inspiration for Cookie of the Month. Once I introduce the what kind of cookies I bake, I bring sample pieces and share with people I come into contact with from Co-workers to friends and family. Dentist or Doctors. when samples are not available I always have a business card handy and try to network when I can.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

Once I’ve informed people about the company I remind them to check out this month’s Cookie of the Month and encourage them to vote for next months flavors. I’ve had a small hiccup on Honeybee Sunrise’s facebook page but I’m trying to work on creating a presence on Facebook and Instagram. I’m moving at a slow pace learning the best way I know how to engage with my audience. It has been a learning curve but I know I will get better in time.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.honeybeesunrise.com
• Instagram: @honeybee.sunrise
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1YXbqNanBV/
• Other: Google: https://g.page/r/CSN89WDRffCNEAE/review

Image Credits

Melissa Lyall