We were lucky to catch up with Nicole Baker recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Nicole , thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
My son was diagnosed with severe food allergies as an infant. I’ve been on a mission to promote food allergy awareness ever since. I created my bakery to be an allergy friendly resource in the community providing plant based, dairy-free, egg-free and nut-free baked goods that are safe, easily accessible, and delicious!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My son was diagnosed with multiple food allergies to milk, eggs, peanuts, and shellfish as an infant.
As a nurse, I already knew how dangerous that diagnosis was but as a mom, I was just learning how life-changing it would be. I’ve always loved to cook and I’m sure that was no coincidence because those skills came in handy as I had to navigate this new normal making most of my son’s food from scratch.
It was no easy feat to ensure proper nutrition, as well as safety when dealing with a picky toddler. But armed with my love for my son, and my love for the kitchen I set out on a journey that would eventually lead me where I am today, the owner of a small business providing allergy-friendly cookies, and cakes.
My business launched in 2020 after years of consideration and planning and has had to pivot during these challenging times but the focus always has remained the same, to provide safe and delicious baked goods to the food allergy community and promote food allergy awareness.
It’s no secret that people buy from those they know like, and trust. I hope this interview helps the public get to know me, like what I’m offering, and trust that my products will always be allergy-friendly and delicious.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Honestly, I just started doing local farmers markets in the area and that really helped me gain a following. I made sure to provide business cards with my social media handles on it so that customers and really just anyone who picked up a card could follow my business on line. The best advice I can give is to just make sure you tell as many people as possible about your social media presence and ask them to follow you for updates.
We’d really appreciate if you could talk to us about how you figured out the manufacturing process.
My bakery is a small batch bakery. I bake everything from scratch. I’m a 1 woman show. I do it all. Baking, packaging, everything! The main thing for me is the integrity of my product, keeping it completely free of dairy, egg, and nuts. There’s no room for error with this specialized of a product and I take that very seriously. As a food allergy mom I understand the severity. I take every precaution to ensure my products are dairy, egg, and nut free. They are manufactured in a facility free of these allergens.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.crumbscookiecompany.com
- Instagram: @crumbscookiecompanync
- Facebook: crumbscookiecompanync
Image Credits
Edmonds IV Photography