Today we’d like to introduce you to Dace Corlett.
Dace, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
As a classically trained chef one thing that I had always wanted to master was the art of making sourdough. It is quite challenging and was only skimmed over when I was in culinary school. When the Covid pandemic hit and stay-at-home orders were issued, in March of 2020, I decided that this was the perfect distraction that I needed in my life. I set out to create a starter from scratch and after a few initial failures realized that I had some dehydrated starter filed away in a cabinet from 10 years earlier (when I had the desire but not the time to learn the art of sourdough). Side note…my starter dates back to 1847 and the Oregon Trail, I won an award for it in April 2021. I activated the starter and began baking every day. Sourdough comes with a bit of a learning curve and quarantine proved to be the perfect environment to ride out that curve. Baking was an enormous stress reliever for me and I looked forward to my daily baking routine, I even embraced the failures because something new was always learned!
Fast forward to the late July of 2020 my youngest daughter, an aspiring ballerina, was invited to move to Pittsburgh to train for a career in ballet. Covid had been hard on us financially and I was afraid of the financial commitment of sending her across the country with the additional living expenses that would accompany that. My husband encouraged me to sell my sourdough, but honestly, I was suffering from a lack of confidence, not in my baking skills but in my ability to build a business. Seeing no other option to fund my dancer’s dreams I decided to just face my fears and dive in. I got my Cottage Food Operations license and haven’t looked back!
I have to say that my fears were completely unfounded! I absolutely LOVE having my own business. It is hard work but I am in control and I am loving every single early morning and late night! The community has embraced my business and has been a wonderful support. I have added cookies, cupcakes, and bundt cakes to my menu. I love being able to provide delicious homemade treats to families who are in the midst of the work/kids/school/sports juggle. It isn’t easy and there isn’t always time to spend hours baking up delicious goodies, that is where Wild Crumb Bakery comes in!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Once I got through the technical aspects of mastering sourdough my next hurdles were self-inflicted.
I don’t think starting a business is ever really a smooth road, there are many new things to learn. Just because one has a creative talent doesn’t mean that running a business will come easily. I have had to really examine and refine my menu along the way because at first I was making things that were quite complex and extremely time-consuming. Lessons were learned.
I remember my first Thanksgiving in business in 2020. I had decided to offer these luscious Hokkaido Milk rolls which have a sourdough base. rather than commercial yeast. I also offered my full menu. I was up at 3am portioning and rolling out rolls, letting them rise, then baking them…also baking my sourdough, cookies, pecan pie and apple pie bars. It was a very long morning and pick-ups were scheduled to begin at noon. My husband jumped in to help, then my daughters, then my son. It was crazy! I was calling out instructions to each one of them about how to wrap the baked sourdough, how to write out the labels, how to tie the twine around a box, how to properly bag up orders, etc. All the while a sense of absolute panic was welling up inside of me because I did not want someone to arrive and have to wait for their order to be put together. My oldest daughter was manning the door and when a car pulled up she would get their name and run inside to find their order to bring out to them. I cried that day. It all got done and everyone was pleased with their orders but I learned some lessons about overextending myself and the logistics of baking as a business.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
First and foremost I am a classically trained chef. I have always loved cooking and I knew restaurant life would not be in my future because I had young kids and being home with them, while my husband earned the income, was our plan. But as they grew my itch to work with food was still there but I just couldn’t see what direction to go in. Until the pandemic and my obsession with mastering sourdough…of course, the final push was my daughter moving to PA. If I didn’t HAVE to start a business I don’t know if I would have had the nerve.
I did teach cooking lessons to kids and adults for a while and that was a really fun experience, one that I am thinking about starting up again. For right now I absolutely love baking from home. I have a very comfortable routine, which occasionally gets uncomfortable around holidays and big events, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. People always ask if I plan to open a brick-and-mortar bakery. Not at this point… but I have learned to never say never!
I think what sets me apart in some ways is that I am licensed. That seems like it should be a given but there are just so so so many people baking from home with no licensing. I find that frustrating because the licensing is in place to protect the consumer. I find it completely unacceptable that people care more about making a buck then they do about their customer’s well-being. That said I always suggest whenever someone is on social media looking for cakes and other goodies, always ask if the seller is licensed.
I have built a business around doing what I love and have learned to say no to then things that I do not love (Hokkaido Milk rolls). It seems to be working. I love making treats with a family focus, things that adults and kids alike will love…whether that is Mimosa Cupcakes for Mother’s Day, Maple Bacon Cupcakes for Father’s Day or Magic Snowball Hot Cocoa Balls (magically turn blue in hot milk…so much fun!) for Christmas, my goal is always to bring a smile and have people feel genuinely cared for.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
Luck is a funny thing. I believe that we allow good luck to come our way through hard work and preparation.
I frequently am blessed with large last-minute orders. The only way I can say yes is because I keep a solid inventory of supplies. Is it luck or is it preparation that allows me to say yes?
Good luck and hard work always seem to go hand in hand.
Pricing:
- Sourdough $9-12.50
- Seasonal Cupcakes 6/$22 12/$38
- Cookies $15-17.50 dozen
- Seasonal Treat Boxes $25 plus
- DIY Cookie Decorating Kits $30
Contact Info:
- Email: wildcrumbbakery@gmail.com
- Website: https://direct.me/wildcrumbbakery/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildcrumbbakery/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WildCrumbBakery
