Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Michelle Glover. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Michelle, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to start by getting your thoughts on what you are seeing as some the biggest trends emerging in your industry

I think the biggest trend we are seeing in the baking industry is the implementation of digital products that are just as valuable as the actual desserts that we create. The knowledge of the baking business, beyond recipes, and “how-to’s” is still new but is what adds value to your business. What do I mean? Owners are creating courses that show aspiring and new bakers how to enter various branches of the business beyond the kitchen, and how to build wealth by teaching people through your experience. Anyone can read a recipe and follow it, but it is the knowledge of building the business and the brand that has a renewed value.

We have always had fantastic chefs and owners that were able to show us best practices in what we create. What we have not had is information that tells you how to expand beyond your kitchen, your community, and into the boardroom. The days of “waiting to be discovered” are over. Using social media outlets and tools will bring your audience to you and will help build your brand. I am still learning a lot, but I am certainly looking forward to fully engaging in this trend!

Michelle, 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?

In January of 2020, I launched Batter ‘N Bowl Bakery, an e-commerce store with options of local pickup, and delivery. By March, the country shut down due to COVID 19. This placed the Bakery in a unique position to not only serve current customers but open the door to so many new customers who had to use online outlets to receive their products. The sales to our site increased tremendously, and we even added an option to ship products to our customers all over the country!
In 2021, we began partnerships with online farmers markets and retailers to further serve customers to ensure customers were able to still receive local and fresh products during the pandemic by ordering weekly. They had the existing infrastructure and market share throughout the state of GA that certainly put Batter ‘N Bowl Bakery in a position to expand our products to an entirely new set of customers and sustain us through the pandemic till now. We still are in partnership with those markets today as they serve approximately twenty-six counties in the state of Georgia.

Creating a bakery using an online/ecommerce approach has uniquely positioned us to continue our success in this niche market and create more opportunities to create digital products that help other aspiring bakers to enter the industry through ecommerce platforms. We hope to share information that will help creators build brands faster without the red tape.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Such a timely question! We are an ecommerce business, and we did exceptionally well during the pandemic as more customers accessed our site to meet their needs. While online sales have been our lifeline, we have seen a tapering from sales due to the reopening of the country and our customers eagerness to be “outside” again. This has caused me to relook at our offerings and how to create several streams of income by creating digital products.

We started this process by first using a communication management strategy to engage past and present customers through emails detailing sales, themes, and upcoming holiday specials, etc. For our weekly customers we provide extra samples in their orders to give them a taste of what is coming for the season and to order before other unsubscribed customers.
We are now working to create curriculum that will help other bakers and food creators to use the power of social media platforms and other avenues of communication to start, scale, and expand their businesses by sharing what we have learned and the pitfalls to avoid.

I am excited about this new chapter and looking forward to growing and learning all there is to offer in this space.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Relatability. People will follow and support those who are relatable to who they are, where they come from, what they love, what they need and even what they eat! When I first started the bakery, my primary clientele were men. They were guys who missed their mom or grandma’s cooking, or they had wives or girlfriends that could not cook! They would call on me to fix that dessert that they missed having as a child or the one-on-one service I once provided by adding touches only they liked. It worked so well, that soon enough their women were calling on me to fix their Holiday desserts and we became the best of friends! While I now reach a larger more wholesale audience, I still have those core customers that I still serve no matter what.

By relating to the needs of my customers I was able to build my initial clients and eventually grow my business based on the needs of the client. Keeping your client first, and always keeping an ear to what is relatable to them always gives a stable strategy.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.batternbowlatl.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/batter_n_bowl_bakery
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/batternbowlbakery

Image Credits

Dalton Tengelsen
Michelle Glover