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

Nichol, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

I honestly think coming up with a name is the most difficult part of starting a business! I knew I didn’t want my name as part of my business name and that it should be “macarons” and not “bakery” since I was never going to make anything else. Every time I thought of a name I liked, I looked it up on Facebook and found someone else was already using the name. I started a list of names but still couldn’t make a decision so I finally sent the list to my parents and my dad responded back that he like “Pink Lady Macarons”. I was tired of trying to make a decision so I put that name on my registration for the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and sent it in. Pink is my favorite color and now I have an excuse to have everything pink for my business so it worked out or the best.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

In my 9 to 5 life I am an Associate Director of Human Resources. I worked in food manufacturing for 20 years and just recently took a new position in the public sector.

I started Pink Lady Macarons two and a half years ago on a whim. I loved eating macarons but they were difficult to find in St Cloud and very expensive to have shipped from out of state. I, mistakenly, thought they couldn’t be that difficult to make so I ordered a cookbook and some supplies from Amazon and made my first batch. That first batch was awful and they looked like deformed acorns. I really don’t like to fail so I was determined to get them right. I started watching YouTube videos and found someone who explained how to make macarons with very exact steps, down to the minute of mixing time for the meringue and the number of folds for macronage. My second batch was a success and even had cute little macaron feet and I was hooked.

I started giving away macarons to my friends, family and co-workers and they all told me how good they were and said they would buy them. Someone I know made an off hand comment that I could become a self-made millionaire with my own cottage business. I honestly had no idea what a cottage business was so I had to google it. After looking at the rules and regulations I decided to sign up for my registration and give it a go.

Customers can find me at the St Cloud Area Farmer’s Market every other Saturday from May – October. I also offer specialty holiday boxes and occasionally pop-up at events throughout the year. In addition, I take custom orders as my baking calendar allows.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Social media is a necessary evil. I had to teach myself how to use Instagram and had some bumps along the way. I think the most important thing to remember is more followers does not necessarily equate to more sales. Especially on Instagram, followers can be other businesses or other makers and they are not your target audience so don’t get down on yourself if you don’t have thousands of followers. I will admit, it was nice and exciting to hit the 1K mark on Instagram but it didn’t make any difference in my sales. Do your best to post consistently but make sure the photos you post are good quality and match the aesthetic you want. I would also recommend posting things that make you happy. I do not like making reels, so I rarely do.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I think having a consistent, high quality product has built my reputation. As a bakery, it doesn’t matter if I do everything else perfectly if my product doesn’t taste good. I have several customers who have traveled extensively throughout Europe and have told me the macarons I make are as good, if not better, then ones they have had in Paris.

I make a large variety of flavors so there is always something new to try. I also let my customers build their own boxes, which doesn’t seem to be the norm in macarons. While I do sell pre-set boxes for holidays, when I’m at markets I don’t require any minimum purchase and let customers mix and match whatever flavors they would like. I do my best to treat my customers the same way I’d like to be treated.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.pinkladymacarons.com
• Instagram: Pink Lady Macarons
• Facebook: Pink Lady Macarons

Image Credits
Trista Aubrey Photography & myself