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

Penny, appreciate you joining us today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

My business first began as Penny’s Cookie Company focusing on making soft hand-decorated royal iced cookies for any occasion. I’ve always loved making cakes, cupcakes, and many other confections so I changed my name to The Blue Door Bakery to incorporate all the desserts I enjoy baking. My main priority was making a logo to not only fit my business but my personality. With the help of one of my daughter’s she came up with the perfect representation of baking and floral to fit my new name. Over the next few months my social media and website needed a refresher for easier navigation with a different look. I also added many new tools to my business such as being able to use edible images ( logos, sport teams logo) almost any image can be added to a cookie or a cake. As The Blue Door Bakery, my business is able to provide everything an event table needs such as the cake, cookies and cupcakes making party planning easier. After the final touches I debuted the big change, hoping my business will catch the eye of old and new costumers.

Penny, 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 grew up in a small town in Illinois called Stockton. As a young child, my mom taught me how to bake. My mother owned her own hair salon, and every year at Christmas time, we would make cookies for her customers to show appreciation for their support. My fondest memory was the smile on their faces as we gave them their cookies. As an adult, I continued to bake for my family. I have seven children, so you can imagine life was pretty busy. I took some cake decorating classes for fun after my 4th child was born. I started baking cakes for friends and family. I baked cakes for a short time before I became a nurse. Years later, I started baking cookies as a hobby. Again, I baked cookies for family and friends. I often took cookies to work and passed them out to coworkers. Everyone always told me to start my own cookie business. I could do this now that the kids are grown. Not only did I want to make cookies but I wanted to offer a variety of baked goods. So I rebranded my business to The Blue Door Bakery after a couple years of focusing cookies.

We’d love to hear about you met your business partner.

My business partner is my daughter Felicia. We first worked together on her baby shower making cookies and a cake finding we both share the love for designing desserts for parties. As my business grew my daughter helped me with social media, and being the photographer for the baked goods, so naturally we went into business together. This is another reason I changed my name to The Blue Door Bakery because it is now a mother daughter business.

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

I find that many costumers come from existing ones. I would make a cookie set or cake for a birthday party and find that many of my new costumers are from that birthday party. It’s great to know that people from the party love my cookies enough to contact me for their next big event. As a small business doing farmers markets also help me find more costumers in my area.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://thebluedoorbakeryfl.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebluedoorbakeryfl/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pennyscookiecompanyy/

Image Credits
Felicia Coussens