December 2, 2011:
Just before Christmas, Suse Henshaw and I were discussing our love of baking over coffee with another friend. Suse had made some yummy pistachio and cranberry shortbread and was thinking of selling it as Christmas gifts. She ended up baking 28 packets of biscuits and made herself some festive season pocket money in the process.
December 8, 2011:
I was asked if I would make 30 cupcakes for a friend’s daughter’s 18th birthday party. They wanted vanilla cupcakes with white icing and pink flowers. An idea started to form that our skills would work well together baking sweet things. Suse and I spent the next few weeks throwing around some ideas.
January 3, 2012:
Suse and I met up for coffee and decided we should start a baking business. What would we call it? How do we tell people this fledgling business exists? We threw around a few name ideas until it occurred to us to name it after the furry men in our lives – Stanley (my ginger cat) and Nelson (Suse’s black Labrador).
January 13, 2012:
Stanley & Nelson was registered as a business. The next piece of the puzzle was how we get our sweet bakings out to the public. We knew we could do personal and corporate orders, but what about the wider population? This question was answered when we found out a farmer’s market was launching in Launceston. Harvest Launceston would be our storefront! The first market was in February, so we had to finalise a product line, get council approval, find a commercial kitchen and buy equipment for the stall itself.
February 11, 2012:
Everything fell into place with not too many hiccups and we even found a commercial kitchen within walking distance of our homes. After a whirlwind few weeks, we found ourselves standing at the first market, with a line of customers five deep. We sold out of 180 cupcakes in less than two hours (we thought a cupcake a minute was more than enough for our first three-hour market). A local cafe owner bought six of our specialty cupcakes and contacted us to see if we wholesaled. Yes!
February 18, 2012:
Our second market. We made more cupcakes and sold out again, paying ourselves back the $500 we’d each invested.
March 3, 2012:
We’ve now had four markets and have been taking orders for parties and events (including one for 200 cupcakes), with interstate orders and interest along the Eastern Seaboard. Now we’re looking to manage our growth as we each run other businesses. Stanley & Nelson has also enjoyed some excellent media attention in its short life.
A business that started, like many I assume, over a coffee went from an intention to start to a fully-fledged operation in less than six weeks. The world is our cupcake!
