We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Rebecca Southern. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Rebecca below.
Rebecca, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea
I actually wasn’t trying to start a business. I have the infamous story line of “_I was taking care of this need that I had and was sharing with people on my Facebook page…and then they started offering to pay me to make them some.”
It all started when I was smack dab in the middle of prepping for a bodybuilding competition. If you know anyone who has done this before, you know it’s consuming. Everything you do (or don’t do) is for that end goal of getting on stage and competing in a physique competition. So among hours and hours of cardio, with plenty of time to think and an extremely straight forward and boring line up of food I had to eat, I started to realize that there was a huge gap between delicious food that I wanted to eat and food that I was actually allowed to eat with the strict diet I had to follow.
With the love of baking and being in the kitchen from a young age and the desire to create something I wanted to eat but also could eat, I started experimenting with the foods I was allowed for breakfast at the time. Oats, blueberries, protein powder and a zero calorie sweetener…oh, and egg whites, I was always eating egg whites!
Now, our treats and our reasons have shifted a bit but that is how it all started. I knew there had to be a way to make something that I could eat that wouldn’t ruin my goals but was also delicious.
I’d post things from time to time on my Facebook page and people started offering to buy them…That’s when I knew I had something that other people would love too!
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
The BodyBakery & Co was created out of my own need to have desserts everyday without ruining my health goals. We realize at the BodyBakery that there are massive amounts of people out there that struggle their way through living and eating healthy. The stigma of being healthy is a boring diet and never being able to have dessert. We plan on changing that because healthy people deserve desserts too!
We create high protein, gluten free, functional desserts with the athlete as well as the everyday wanna stay healthy on the go person in mind. Our desserts are single serve pre packaged desserts and treats that can be eaten on the go or on a fancy plate with a fork!
Not only are BodyBakery treats a great source of protein, they have balanced macros and fiber that help you stay full and satisfied. Perfect for breakfast, before or after a workout or anytime you need a snack. Functional foods help your body do the work they need to do everyday.
A bonus is that all our treats are Gluten Free as well. We thought it very important to focus on this aspect as well and make sure all our recipes are tested GF.
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
I had been running The BodyBakery for 2.5years before I stepped out of the corporate world and into the Bakery being my main focus. When I created the BodyBakery I knew I would have to slowly work my way out of the corporate world I was in. (Upper management in a large company) At the time I had zero funding from my business so I knew I would need to keep my day job and work on the Bakery on the side. So for two and half years I worked nights and weekends on the Bakery while my corporate job supported everything.
I knew that if I needed to eventually be able to count on the Bakery for income I would need to slowly transition from the Bakery being my side hustle to my main focus. The plan was to make strategic moves over the years that would put less time and stress on me in the corporate position. So I moved from HR, to food and beverage buyer (I also knew that taking this position would allow me to learn for the Bakery as well), to a part time position, and finally after two and half years of juggling a corporate career and a passion project, I was able to quit my job. The funny thing is that everything just flip flopped. The Bakery became my main focus but then I went out and found other side jobs to fill in the financial gaps I had. So even after two and half years it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. I still worked several different avenues to make ends meet.
One thing you don’t hear often enough about CPG companies is that it takes a loooong time and a lot of free labor to get them going and keep them going. Consumer packaged goods is a different kind of beast. I never had the money to throw at the business so I just chipped away at it over time.
Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?
We have a website. www.thebodybakery.net
We do both retail and wholesale sales from our webpage. When considering other outlets it just seemed to make sense to do all the shipping and delivery ourselves. With the nature of our product being frozen food, it just seems like the less hands in the pot the better outcome for delivery to the customer.
On the flip side you have to manage the website and literally do everything from start to finish with getting the product into the hands of your customers.
One of the best things I did was to find a way to have a retail shop for anyone to go and but also a password protected wholesale page so my wholesale accounts can order online as well. This saved a ton of time on the back end for our wholesale accounts and keeping those managed as well as getting invoices paid and having everything in one place etc.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.thebodybakery.net
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebodybakeryandco/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebodybakeryandco
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/82559636/admin/
- Twitter: N/A
- Youtube: N/A
- Yelp: N/A
Image Credits
Photographer: Krystalyn Hackett