So in my midst of Vday prepping, I got the idea to make something sweet and salty! My Halloween version was a hit, so I figured I'd remake these delicious chocolate covered pretzel rods into something a little more cutesy.
The process is easy peasy! I think making these particular pretzels took all of 15 minutes, and I was baking two other recipes at the same time! Phew!
I'll also post that I am selling these locally. Since I'm taking a hiatus from Facebook, I will not be updating my page. If you are in the Norman, Oklahoma area, feel free to order from my menu!
INGREDIENTS
Optional toppings:
1 bag of pretzel rods
1/2 a brick (12 net wt oz) white almond bark
Festive sprinkles
DIRECTIONS
1. In a saucepan on medium-low heat, slowly melt the almond bark. Do not melt too quickly or it will burn. Lay out wax paper on a counter or a few large cookie sheets. Set aside.
2. Once the almond bark is fully melted, dipped/roll/coat the pretzel rods in the bark and gently tap the excess off. To decorate with sprinkles, coat the wand while the bark is still wet. Place on the wax paper and let dry completely.
Hello Kelly! I saw your kickstarter campaign and followed it to this blog. I am a local business owner in Oregon and I wanted to share a little feedback that I hope could help you with your bakery dreams. I am very impressed by your passion and dedication to your bakery, but I see that you are still a ways from reaching your kickstarter goal and I wanted to toss around some ideas that could help you with any future campaigns.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what traction you get on this blog, and I'll confess I didn't scroll down too far but I didn't see any posts about your kickstarter or intentions to open a storefront here. You might try to drum up reader interest here. I really enjoyed reading the top few blog posts, and I think the recipes are a particularly nice touch in order to get more readers and shares.
I also think it's very important to give specifics on why you need $20,000 to open your bakery. How much of that is for equipment, and what kind of equipment? How much is the lease? What building is the lease for? Why did you choose that building? How much for promotional items? Etc. The language on your kickstarter is very vague and I think it makes potential backers less comfortable. Showing that you have a clear and well-defined plan and exactly where backers' money is going to is important in order to get anyone to support you enough to put their own money behind your dreams.
I also found it curious that you don't discuss your plan for coffee at all on your kickstarter. You talk a lot about the types of desserts you'd like to offer, but I didn't see any mention of the specialty coffees. If you include "coffee" in your business name, people will expect that to be well incorporated into your offerings. I know other people who have tried to run coffee shops and I know it is a very difficult and expensive venture, so it may be better to reconsider the inclusion of "coffee" in your business name and drop coffee from your menu unless you have a really good grip on all the intricacies of coffee shops. Now, I think you could still sell coffee as a beverage, but unless you are offering coffee shop quality and variety, I think it could be misleading to include that in your business name.
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ReplyDeleteI know it is often hard to fund a kickstarter campaign for a local bakery because it ultimately needs to be backed by locals because those are the ones that will be able to take advantage of its success. So, with that in mind, is it possible to set a lower goal than $20,000? I don't know much about your area but a quick google search turns up that Norman has a decent population and is close in proximity to Oklahoma City. That may make it easier to set a higher goal, but it may also help to offer more levels in your backer amounts. I think you could really break it down between $25 and $500 since you're likely getting backing from individuals who may want to pledge more than $25 but less than $100 or more than $100 but less than $500. And then you might consider offering better rewards for those who pledge higher dollar amounts. If I pledged $400, I would want more than two slices, two drinks, a sticker and a tote. You can check out what some other bakery projects offer as rewards for inspiration, but some nice ideas that I've seen include a (local) private cooking lesson or private cooked dinner (many couples buy these as date nights). You might also consider offering cakes or cupcakes or some type of dessert for fewer than 50 people. I'm thinking of smaller bridal showers or baby showers that might want treats but might not have that big of a guest list.
I'm very impressed by your food photography. I'm not a photographer, but I've heard and I can only imagine that photographing food and desserts can be very difficult and turn out pretty unappetizing, but your photos look professional quality. I'm not sure if you took them yourself or hired someone, but either way, I think those will really help with your business.
Best of luck to you! I hope your dreams come true. Your treats certainly look delicious! If I'm ever in the Oklahoma area, I'll have to order one of those tasty-looking snickerdoodle cakes!
Hello Anon -
ReplyDeleteThank you for your feedback. Kickstarter is focused on my bakery website, not my food blog. If I had spent more time on this food blog promoting, then perhaps you are right, it would've gotten more publicity. I specifically kept the project away from my blog to prevent viewers that wanted to see recipes have to hear about the Kickstarter project. While the food blog and the bakery have the same name, meant to keep my reputation in Norman constant instead of starting a new name and a new reputation to build, they are two entirely separate entities.
At this point, the course of the bakery has changed direction and we will be putting the project on pause for a while until I am more experience in running and operating a business. I do agree, however, that a goal of $20,000 is high. There are many reasons why this amount is so high, and looking back at the project, I would see where I would need to implement a public business plan so pledgers could see where the funds are going. At this point, also, I am young and while I am passionate about opening a bakery, I am more rational to the fact that I cannot afford and will not allow myself to take out a loan for $20,000 or even $10,000. Such a loan is what destorys small businesses to begin with and why we wanted as much support from the local community as possible.
Hindsight 20/20 (which is how it always works for me) is that I needed to approach the Kickstarter project with more detail, more options, and overall maybe a more rational goal than immediately opening a store front with a small business who has never done such a thing.
I am not discouraged by this event, but I take it with me as a learning experience of what to do and what not to do in the future.
I appreciate your feedback, as you are one of few who have been openly honest with me about the project, and in the future when I do reassert my business, I will take all of your advice with me.
Thanks again!
Very informative post! There is a lot of information here that can help any business get started with a successful social networking campaign. Best Burr Coffee Grinders under $200
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