In this episode, Jill Donaldson, a formally trained baker and entrepreneur, describes her evolution from a home-based baker to a home-based creator of commercial baking packages. This change dramatically altered her business, daily routine, sales model, and success.
In growing up, Jill’s favorite memories were of baking with her Lebanese Sito (Grandmother) Lilly. She knew at an early age that she would own a food business and worked diligently toward it. She studied entrepreneurship in college, with an emphasis on the food industry, and worked in restaurants, bakeries, and catering companies. She also took a six-month patisserie course and began to develop a set of baked goods that would form the foundation of her future product line. Three years later, Jill established a state-certified cottage kitchen and launched her baking business from her home.
Although successful in growing her home business initially, Jill knew she could do more. She had worked previously in bakeries with large-scale production capabilities and felt as though she was working very hard at home but not yet reaching enough people or creating a sustainable work/life balance. With these yearnings, and some new personal needs to eat differently, Jill began to develop allergen-free baking kits—her LillyBean line of products, named for Sito Lilly—with dry ingredients and utensils for people to bake themselves.
Over the last three years, Jill’s LillyBean line of Pastry Base has become an even bigger success and has shifted Jill’s business model completely. Jill now works closely with local and national businesses, as well as co-packers that produce and package her kits in allergen-free facilities, to sell her products online, in local stores, and in national grocery chains such as Wegmans and Food Lion.
This episode delves into Jill’s personal story but also some new technical issues such as allergen-free food production, working with co-packers, and the benefits of tradeshows and entrepreneur networks. This episode is a bit longer than most but provides useful insight for aspirants, beginners, and veteran producers alike.
You can find out more about Jill’s background and baking kits at https://pastrybase.com as well as on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pastrybase) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/pastrybase/) .
For more information about the movement behind the podcast, visit our Facebook Group, at https://www.facebook.com/groups/350301745982098; follow us on Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/cotcup/, and check out examples of our guests’ creations on Pinterest, https://www.pinterest.com/cotcup/boards/.