Bakery 1.0 – In 2011, I started making cakes (and just about everything else you could eat) in our cramped South Charlotte townhouse for friends and family via word of mouth. It was really just a way to earn extra income while finishing college and trying to pay bills.
Bakery 2.0 – Skip to 2013, we’re in a new house, with a new kitchen, and a baby on the way. After a couple years of making cakes on the side + our 40 hr weekly jobs we decided it was time to make a decision… work for someone else or work for ourselves. The decision seems like an easy one now but I was pregnant at the time and the fear of loosing our house if we couldn’t make cakes was all too real.
Bakery 3.0 – Fast forward to 2015… we’re working with 200+ clients out of our home kitchen, raising our son (Theo), and we’re starting to feel a little cramped. So we weighed our options, lease a store front? nope, too expensive. Make less cake? nope, babies aren’t cheap. Make more space? hmmmmm…. let’s look at that 🙂 So, we met with dozens of contractors and drew up dozens of rough draft sketches to envision the new space. After plenty of late nights working the numbers, we finalized our plan, picked a (horrible) contractor, and broke ground by the Summer of 2015.
Our “Bakery 3.0” project was right at 750 sqft and took roughly eight months from start to (almost) finished. We added a new home bakery (living room in the future), a private tasting room (bedroom in the future), separate business entrance, and a new laundry room.
To cut down on cost we opted for doing all of the finishing touches ourselves. That included the basics like painting, light fixtures, and decorating as well as all of the wood and tile flooring, trim, outside stairs, etc… To make the project even bigger we decided a few months later that the backyard would make the perfect venue for our upcoming Wedding 🙂
In a span of 12 months we were going to add 750 sqft to our house, turn our backyard into a wedding venue, and you know… everything else… be parents, answer emails, meet with clients, bake cakes, eat, deliver cakes, sleep, etc… The task was enormous and we both earned our “High Stress Survivor” merit badge throughout the process, but nothing could have prepared me for the hardest part. I lost my father to lung cancer at 10pm on Saturday, June 4th 2016. In the middle of wedding season, a month before my wedding, and only six months after being diagnosed.
Grief took a back seat to life and despite the odds, we pulled off an incredible backyard wedding, finished the new bakery, and a year later… we’re excited to announce I’m pregnant again!!! What started out in 2011 as a hobby has transformed years later into a family business that allows us to work from home, spend plenty of time together as a family, and meet hundreds of couples starting a new chapter in their life together. I love my bakery, I love my family, and if you’re reading this / about to get married… I would love to make your cake 🙂
Take a look below at the amazing transformation that we call Bakery 3.0 with beautiful post-construction shots by Gandee Photography.
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One thought to “Bakery 3.0”
From the moment I contacted Ella, she has been nothing but professional and flexible. She was able to schedule a tasting the week I reached out to her, and was fully prepared when my fiance and I arrived. Ella was able to give an exact price during the tasting, and sent me the invoice immediately after. I love her ability to multi-task and work within deadlines. She’s been amazing since I started working with her and I’m excited to see the final product! Thank you Ella!