SUGAR SISTER CONSULTING: Get Help to Grow Your Business!

We have the recipe to success!

We work with people who want to start a business as a creative, retail shop owner or in the food industry.

Who we are and What we offer:

The Sugar Sisters have been around the block (the "Bakery" block) and we know two things very well:

1. How to ditch your corporate day job and transition to something new.

2. How to build a successful business out of your passion.

oh and yes, we know how to bake. But that goes without saying.

The Sugar Path is owned by two sisters: Michelle and Nina. In 2011 we were stressed out and unhappy sisters who had professional careers: Michelle as a lawyer and Nina as a mental health counselor. We decided that we needed a hobby to help us destress and that is when we armed ourselves with our Grandma’s recipes and her collection of cookbooks, and started to bake. . .and bake. . .and bake. We baked so much that we decided to get back to our roots and take our wares to the farmer’s market— just for a side hobby of course. It turned out that people really liked what we baked and moreover, they liked us. We were able to grow our little hobby from that farmer’s market stand to a well regarded retail bakery that also caters weddings and events. . .and ships nationwide. That allowed us to ditch the stressful jobs and create something new and more fulfilling.  We've also been pretty fortunate to meet some pretty great people through our business, including:

Barbara Corcoran

Donnie Wahlberg

Jenny McCarthy

Henry Winkler

Greg Louganis

Ed Asner

. . .to name a few. 

After we won the contest sponsored by Barbara Corcoran, other business owners began to call us asking us how we did it. We even got asked to speak about it at events.  Then we realized:  People go to pastry school not business school, or they're following a passion to own a bakery but they don’t know anything about how to grow a new creative business. We’ve learned so much in the last eight years—-from both self education and professional education to coaching and mentoring. Over the years we’ve watched a lot of great businesses go out of business and it’s made us pause and wonder if perhaps we could offer our services to help people who want to grow a successful business and want to make a bigger impact.  

What do we credit our success to? First and foremost: hard work. When we first opened our retail shop eighteen hour days were the norm. But that didn’t make our business successful and neither did having an amazing product. In fact, we almost failed. We almost failed A LOT. What turned our business around was to learn how to run a successful business. To do that we relied on our education: legal, managerial and social work (you have no idea how much it helped us to use Nina’s background as a therapist and counselor, as well as her ten years in restaurant management!). Then we got business mentors, a business coach and joined entrepreneurial groups. We started to put processes and systems in place. When we started to run a profitable business we were able to grow and scale.

How much time do you have to do your own research to learn everything you need to in order to run a successful business? Over the last ten years we have spent hundreds of thousands of hours learning the bakery business. It took at least 1,000 hours just to put a shipping program in place, from building out the website (we do all of our own websites and graphics) to figuring out how to package and ship. We also had to design FDA approved labels—-most people aren’t aware of the legal requirements that go into this type of business (Michelle’s background really helps out with this!). We have been shipping nationwide successfully for three years!

The truth is, there is no good resource that will tell you how to do everything you need to do in order to start a bakery business. There are books, but we read most of them and honestly found that real life and book life did not match. If you have thousands of hours to spend on research, and you have a business and creative background, then you might not need us. But if you don’t have that time or skill, or you don’t want to spend that time because you want success and soon, then you are in luck because we have started to offer our consulting services to help our fellow passionate bakers!

The food business is very competitive and most new businesses fail. We are here to help ensure your success! We’ve created a roadmap to have a successful retail bakeshop, wedding dessert catering and online bakeshop business. If you want to start a bakery business or you have one that you want to grow—-get in touch!

If your bakery, food business or creative business needs help with any of the following, just call the Sugar Sisters. We offer consulting, coaching and mentoring.   

How to transition from your day job

How to find your purpose or turn a passionate hobby into a business

Business Start-up

Pricing

How to set up a Bakery

How to Operate a Bakery or food business

How to market your small business

Wedding industry advice

How to Scale your Business

Legal requirements for your small business

Creating customer experiences

Creating processes and systems

Developing a Wholesale Program

How to choose a location for your retail shop

Build-out advice (we even have an architect referral!)

Operating an online food or creative business

Shipping

So, don't lose sleep worrying if you have in place what you need to.  Don't stress about not having enough time.  We know what it's like when you're on your feet for 16 hours a day or stuck in front of that hot oven.  You barely have enough time to sleep let alone leave your mixer to research how to design a marketing campaign.  We gotcha sister—keep reading and choose your options, from classes to coaching, consulting or mentoring.

1. Have a problem and want one-on-one coaching or consulting? We offer consulting sessions and a monthly coaching program to help you meet goals or stay accountable. Use this form or our calendar link below.

2. Need mentoring and a support network? Tribe CAKE for Female Entrepreneurs

“C”reative “A”nd “K”ind “E”ntrepreneurship

FREE GROUP!

Our new support group is on Facebook and it’s free! Find us and join. Moreover, it’s not just for bakers! The best type of network is a diverse one, so if you are inspired to reinvent yourself and your business, become a member of our tribe! This is for all female entrepreneurs who have a business or want to start one. CAKE stands for creative and kind entrepreneurship. In the spirit of sisterhood, we will help you learn, uplift you and celebrate your wins. Join if you own a business and want a community. Join if you are a burnt out professional and have finally decided to change your life. Join if you’re at your wit’s end on how to start or grow your business. Here’s what you get:

Membership:

• You will become a member of our private facebook group where you receive a live monthly mentoring session and access to a supportive community. In the facebook group you will receive business and personal development training to help you grow and uplevel both your business and yourself as an entrepreneur. We expect a diverse group of female business owners with predominance in the creative industries.

• Ask us anything in the facebook group! We will answer all of your questions.

• Get access to the guest mentors we invite into the group to talk to you!

• Find your tribe.

I remember when we started baking and I searched for where I could go to learn more skills. The only option was a two year pastry program, which was not actually an option for me. I remember when we wanted to put a wholesale program into place and didn’t know where to go to learn more about how to price our products. I remember when we started wedding catering and we didn’t even know how to deliver the cake! Do you assemble on site or off? Then there was the shipping—-don’t even get me started on the problems we encountered! Then we needed to scale our business and put processes into place. . .@*@%$##+

Imagine being a member of a group where you get answers to all of your questions from two women who operate a successful business. Imagine if you could have the opportunity to train in a real production bakery and learn first hand everything from exactly how to make a wedding cake to how to deliver it? Or be taught how to ship a product? Imagine if you could come along on a wedding set-up with us? Or be trained on how to create a customer experience and get to experience that by training behind our counter? What if you could be introduced to the top creatives in the industry who are a part of our circle? Or learn the business skills to uplevel your business? What if an attorney could tell you about the legal pitfalls of a business, or a counselor could tell you exactly how to handle a customer complaint. What if two moms could give you advice on how to balance it all. Wouldn’t that change your world and bring you to a new level, for both your business and personal life? If this was available when we started I would have snatched this up in a heartbeat!

—-Michelle