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Kristi Otto with One More Bite Organic Desserts

Kristi Otto of Fort Myers, FL shares how she leveraged her extensive food industry experience to succeed with her cottage food bakery, despite her community not resonating with her products initially

Nicole DiMarco with All About The Freeze

Nicole DiMarco of West Deptford, NJ shares how she took the leap with a new product, and leveraged her sales, retail, and social media experience to quickly start a successful cottage food business

Steph Uittenbogaard with Fifi’s Patisseries

Steph Uittenbogaard of Loveland, CO never thought she’d run her own home bakery, and she shares her atypical business journey, including both the triumphs and challenges that she’s faced along the way

Alexis Kron with Bakednaz

Alexis Kron of Bullhead City, AZ shares how she built a successful cottage food bakery selling luxury custom cakes, despite overcoming personal challenges and facing resistance from her community

Tyler & Angie Worthey with Worthey Peppers

Tyler Worthey of Neoga, IL shares how he built a very successful cottage food business during high school, and how he and his mom Angie now work together as a mother/son team to take it to new heights

Ka’Terra Dettbarn with Sweet Addiction

Ka’Terra Dettbarn of Ocean City, MD endured lots of trial and error when starting a cottage bakery with her sister, but by persisting and listening for guidance, they transformed it into a success

Valerie Allensworth with The Donut Lady

Valerie Allensworth of Sitka, AK shares how she built a very successful cottage food business by focusing on consistency, despite living on a remote island in Alaska and facing many unique challenges

Jenifer & Tristan Hoke with The Drunken Chef

Jenifer & Tristan Hoke of Tecumseh, OK share how they used sheer persistence to overcome early sales struggles, and found a business model that works so well that they now can’t keep up with demand

Rob Sanz with Rise Artisan Sourdough

Rob Sanz of Rockville, MD shares how he’s added a cottage food bakery to a busy family life and career, and why he has intentionally kept his microbakery small, even though he could easily grow it

Elisa Marie Lords with Elisa Marie Baking

Elisa Marie Lords of Placentia, CA shares how she overcame early struggles with her sales and built a thriving cottage food bakery by focusing on community, consistency, and customer service

Monique Germaine with Kneading to Bake

Monique Germaine of Nashville, TN shares how she built and rebuilt her cottage food bakery in 3 different states, plus a crazy commercial food business journey that got her products into big retailers

Michelle Dukes with The Cookie Cutters

Michelle Dukes of Penfield, NY shares why she shifted her business model after 10 years of running a cottage food bakery, while keeping focus on the most important aspect of her business: having fun

Shupan Abraham with Cakes By Shupan

Shupan Abraham of Lawrenceville, GA shares how her cottage food bakery transformed once she hired a coach, and what she’s learned about putting herself out there and marketing her business effectively

David Bock with Buzzed Honeys

David Bock of Altadena, CA runs a multifaceted honey business that specializes in rescuing honey bees, and he shares local marketing tips that helped him build an email list of 3,500+ subscribers

Jessi Deily with Colby Jack Rabbit

Jessi Deily of Helena, MT sells macarons and custom-decorated meringue cookies with her cottage food business and shares her journey from struggling artist to successful baker and TikTok influencer

Eric & Denise Steilberger with Fudge De Fûge

Eric & Denise Steilberger of Ocala, FL sell their homemade fudge all year long and share how the lessons they learned from running a cafe in Alaska helped them build a successful cottage food business

Megan Shonka with Happy Mango Bakery

Megan Shonka of Papillion, NE shares the highs and lows of her home-based bakery journey, the importance of being involved in her community, and her plans to expand into a brick-and-mortar storefront

Angela Awunor with Angyono Cakes

Angela Awunor of Glenn Dale, MD shares how she moved her thriving custom cake business from a commercial kitchen into her home, and how she maintains work-life balance with two full-time careers

Denae Spiering with The Sugar Shack

Denae Spiering of Bridgeville, DE shares how she realized her long-time dream of building a brick-and-mortar bakery despite life getting in the way and pausing her cottage food business for many years

Deanna Martinez-Bey with The Fiery Whisk Bakery

Deanna Martinez-Bey of Wake Forest, NC is a multi-faceted food entrepreneur and shares her experience in building a cottage food bakery, writing books, managing social media, and running pop-up events

Episode 100: Where Are They Now?

In this very special 100th episode, previous guests come back on to share an update of what’s changed since they were last on the show, what’s surprised them, and what they’ve learned along the way

Invest In Yourself with Stephanie Wiley

Stephanie Wiley of Whitefish, MT shares how the tragic loss of her son inspired her to start a cookie business, which she has quickly grown by seeking help from others and investing in the business

Live In The Moment with Alisa Woods

Alisa Woods of Des Moines, IA shares how she promotes her home bakery by networking with others, getting TV spots, building Instagram followers, competing in state fairs, and living in the moment

Men Bake Cookies with Mike Skyring

Mike Skyring of South Lyon, MI shares how he started a gourmet cookie bakery totally by accident, and how he quickly grew it into a very successful business by leveraging many marketing techniques

Anything Is Possible with Emily Vanlandingham

Emily Vanlandingham of New Orleans, LA runs a home bakery that focuses on school celebrations, and shares the triumphs, lessons, and challenges that have come from creating her very unique business

Think Like A CEO with Jen Morris

Jen Morris shares so many lessons from her crazy journey building a popular cupcake business in Collingdale, PA, including promoting yourself, scaling up, getting published, and validating products

Baking Saved My Life with Christina Marquez

Christina Marquez of Antioch, IL shares how she built a cottage food bakery amidst many life challenges by following her passion, caring deeply about her customers, and focusing on serving others

Get Passionate About Sales with Amanda Schonberg

Amanda Schonberg of Baton Rouge, LA shares tons of business tips for generating more sales, building a following, managing mindset, improving time, growing an email list, and scaling up a bakery

Two Cultures In One with Fawzeya Owda

Fawzeya Owda of Norwood, OH shares her unique journey from home bakery to commercial kitchen when her Palestinian-inspired cheesecake allowed her to build her own American Dream to support her family

The Feel Good Factor with Juno Rosales

Juno Rosales shares the incredible story of how she built an international brand by selling her frozen desserts from home in the Philippines before adding a second location in Los Angeles, CA

The Power Of Two with Heather & Corrie Miracle

Twins Heather & Corrie Miracle of Fairfax, VA share the backstory that led them to create their extremely popular Facebook group about marketing for sugar cookiers and other cottage food entrepreneurs

Find Work That Fulfills You with Jenny Berg

Jenny Berg of Bend, OR started baking sourdough bread during the pandemic and shares how she turned her new hobby into a home business that has finally given her a sense of fulfillment in her work.

Chocolate Is Therapy with Gary Knight

Gary Knight of Gardnerville, NV sells beautiful hand-decorated chocolates that he learned to make while overcoming his alcohol addiction and recovering from a traumatic brain injury.

How To Scale A Food Business with Annette Conrad

Annette Conrad of Mequon, WI shares how she massively scaled her home-based custom decorated cookie business by building a team, optimizing systems, and selling to event planners and corporate clients.

The One-Woman Show with Amanda Luecke

Amanda Luecke of Maple Grove, MN shares how she built a thriving custom decorated cookie business with over 26k Instagram followers by focusing on her customers, community, & family.

The Burnt Out Baker with Jenni Reher

Jenni Reher of Mead, CO shares the rise and fall of her vegan donut bakery, how she grew it to 20 wholesale accounts, and why she decided to sell her business when it was doing better than ever.

Mixing It Up with Cassie Menchhofer

Cassie Menchhofer of Celina, OH shares how she took her business to the next level by building an FDA-approved manufacturing facility to sell her dried soup, baking, and spice mixes across the country.

Cupcakes In Full Bloom with Sarah Thongnopneua

Sarah Thongnopneua lives in San Anselmo, CA and shares how she grew her “bouCAKES” (floral cupcake bouquets) business from her home kitchen into a commercial kitchen & won a Food Network competition.

Living Off The Land with Beatrice Lattimore

Beatrice Lattimore from Deland, FL shares how her family moved from the city into the country to start a farm and live off the land, and how she used the cottage food law to sell value-added products.

A Little Bit of Joy with Tracy Mancuso

Tracy Mancuso near Medford, OR shares how she built her successful custom cake business from home while raising young kids by leveraging social media and embracing her local community.

Mom By Day, Baker By Night with Daniela Zographos

Daniela Zographos of Anderson, SC shares how she niched down to only selling custom-decorated cake pops, which made her home bakery even more successful and gave her more time to spend with her kids.

Family, Freedom, & Pie with Kourtney Rojas

Kourtney Rojas of Anaheim, CA shares her long, organic journey into creating a successful home pie business that helps support her family and gave her the freedom to quit her job.

The Self-Taught Supermom with April Spencer

Cake decorator and sugar artist April Spencer from Harrod, OH shares how she sells custom cakes and lollipops from home and on Etsy while being a nearly full-time stay-at-home mom of 3 young children.

The Resilient Baker with Justina Rucinski

Justina Rucinski from Burlington, IA shares how she resurrected her custom cookie business after being sexually assaulted by a supposed client, and how her experience impacted the cottage food industry.

Putting Yourself Out There with Beverly Clutter

Beverly Clutter of Fairmont, WV shares how she organically built her successful side business by showcasing her custom decorated cookies on social media and focusing on serving others in her community.

Dads Can Cake Too with Jeremy Davis

Jeremy Davis from Charlotte, MI runs a lucrative custom-decorated cake business from home while working a full-time job, taking care of his kids, and occasionally appearing on national television.

How The Coronavirus Pandemic Impacted The Cottage Food Industry in 2020

Recently I was asked to briefly describe how COVID-19 has impacted the cottage food industry this year. Here’s what I wrote:

“The pandemic has impacted everyone differently, but it has impacted everyone. Some cottage food businesses have shut down temporarily or permanently, while just as many others have seen their sales skyrocket. More cottage food businesses started this year than any other by far, and overall, the pandemic has caused a huge surge of interest in this industry.”

That’s a very simplified view of what has been a crazy and complex year.

In this post, I’ll dig into some of the major trends and story lines that impacted the cottage food industry in 2020.

Creative Ways to Market Cookies with Mallory Dies

Mallory Dies, from Stafford, VA, shares many creative marketing ideas that she learned from selling homemade gourmet cookie sandwiches, and how she developed a significant following on social media.

From Lawyer To Boozy Baker with Dawn Belisle

Dawn sells alcohol-infused cupcakes from her home bakery near Atlanta, Georgia, called Delights By Dawn. Dawn talks about scaling, making yourself memorable, and if you should quit your day job.

Do You Have An Email List?

If you are selling at a local market and are merely collecting money, then you are missing out! If you want to give your business a huge boost, try this.