Are You Selling the Same Items as Every Other Baker?

I baked for over 30 years before I finally took the leap and began selling my baked goods! I baked all the regulars…you know, cakes and cupcakes., banana bread, cookies and brownies, etc. When I finally began selling my baked goods and attended my first few markets, I quickly realized I was not going to be the only baker in town and all of us were selling primarily the same items. Yikes! That definitely makes it difficult to stand out and draw people in. I quickly tried to change things up a bit…I sold cake “slices”. This went very well! I sold cake “cups”. Also went quite well. But, at the end of the day, I was still busting my behind at the markets to make my baked goods catch the eye of those walking by. By “busting my behind”, I mean talking to visitors as they walked by, trying to get them to accept a sample (I highly recommend samples), etc., etc. But, you see, I am an introvert in every sense of the word. I love people, I love helping people, and I love baking for people. But the high level of interaction would leave me exhausted and I knew that I would burn out quite quickly if I had to continue to work so hard to just bring people to my stall. (side note: huge thank you to my children who helped me significantly with getting samples out to the visitors).

Finally, it dawned on me that all of us bakers were basically offering the same items and I needed to really take a long hard look at my business and how I might do things a bit differently. And this is where creamed honey came in. If you haven’t read my post on how creamed honey became my most popular item during the summer of 2022, you can do so by clicking here. 

When I added creamed honey to my menu, I made sure to notify my community via my Instagram. I also made sure to have signs at my market stall with “CREAMED HONEY” written in large letters. What I found was that visitors now had a reason to attend MY booth and, once they were there, the odds of them adding my cake slices or my brownies or whatever else I might have out greatly increased. Also, once they tried my cake slices or other baked goods, they would often become a returning customer for me. Once I figured out this formula, there was no stopping. I soon added Welsh cakes and soup mixes. If I was offering hot cocoa, it wasn’t just hot cocoa…it was Dutch hot cocoa. Anything I could think of to ensure that our visitors could “experience” something different. 

So I encourage you to take a look at your menu and determine if there is a signature item you could add that isn’t being offered elsewhere. I can assure you that it will be a game changer.