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

Mikayla, appreciate you joining us today. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

Being a business owner is no small task. There are many responsibilities that come with it, as well as holding yourself accountable for your successes and failures. However, it is one of the best decisions I have made in my life, and I couldn’t be happier with my role as a small business owner. There are pros and cons to owning a business, one of the cons is not always having a steady income. With each month sales fluctuate, you have months where sales are great, and other months when sales are down. But the freedom that comes along with owning your own business, beats that of working a regular job, Every person will have their opinions on whether a regular job, or owning your own business is better, There is something rewarding about making your own success, that you will never experience with working a regular job.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

From a young age, I was always in the kitchen with my mother. Whether we were making breakfast together, or helping her make a pie, I was always there helping her along the way. There was never a doubt in my mind that I wanted to be anything else but a pastry chef. I attended culinary programs while in high school and proceed on to study Pastry Arts in college afterwards. While attending school, and upon graduation, I worked in many local bakeries, learning a number of skills. After working many years for other bakery owners, I grew tired of never being able to spend time with my family, enjoy the hobbies I loved, and most importantly I grew tired of bakery owners taking credit for the creative pastries I created. I left my job, not sure of what to do next, but knowing I had escaped a place I wasn’t happy at anymore. I had always dreamed of having my own small business, but as many people, I was just nervous to take that initial leap and fail. With much encouragement from my partner, I created my micro bakery, Blue Buffalo Bakery, in October 2022. The first few months were slow, and had me worries it wouldn’t work out, But as the summer months hit, and I attended more events and catered more weddings, my business started to flourish. All of our pastries are created from scratch, as well as using locally sourced ingredients as much as possible. During the summer months, we grow some of our own vegetables and fruit to use in our pastries. What we cannot grow ourselves, we obtain from local farms, and freeze fruits for the winter months when we cannot get them fresh locally. We also pride ourselves in making a variety of different sourdoughs, which we use our home-grown vegetables in as well.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I believe that our product, as well as building connections with our customers has greatly helped create a good reputation within the pastry market. Our products are unlike most pastries people have had, due to the fact that we make our products from scratch and made with local ingredients. We use creativity to think of new and exciting flavors each week to give our clients something new to look forward to and try. In addition, creating good relationships with our customers is a big key to our success, and having a good reputation, All of our customers mean the world to us, and we want them to feel as though they are with every order they receive from us.

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?

I believe one of the best ways at obtaining new clients, is word of mouth, and professional looking social media platforms. When people like something, they want to tell other people about it. Which in return sparks their interest, and they want to try that product. Thats why producing a good product and creating a good experience for each customer is so vital. If someone has a bad experience, then they will tell others about it and tarnish your reputation. In addition, if your social medias present clean, professional work, people will have more interest in working with your company. Attending festivals and farmers markets have been another great way for us to connect with new clients, and build new relationships

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bluebuffalobakery.net
• Instagram: Bluebuffalobakery
• Facebook: Blue Buffalo Bakery

Image Credits
crave photography