Welcome to our Career Features series, where we interview a variety of inspiring, boundary-breaking, women in business who have carved their own paths, learned a ton along the way and are laying it all out on the line for us here.
NAME: Elyse
POSITION: Owner, Belmont St Bakery
LOCATION: Toronto, Canada
For this edition of Career Features, we are joined by Elyse. Elyse is the owner of Belmont St Bakery. A Toronto-based bakery business, specializing in sourdough breads, baked good & dog treats. Belmont St Bakery is the new kid in town and all born out of a passion for baking, that eventually led to a bakery business out of Elyse’s own home.
Let’s dig in further to how Elyse started her own bakery business from home – during a global pandemic and how you can do the same.
Tell us about how you started your bakery business, Belmont St Bakery?
I had been placed on furlough from my job as Art Gallery Manager due to the pandemic and was sitting in a place of entire uncertainty about my future. I found myself with more time on my hands than I was used to or knew what to do with. During this new found time, I dove head first into the at-home sourdough trend. This made me realize how much I enjoyed the process of making bread and it helped me relax. I was gifting loaf after loaf to friends and family – fresh bread really is the best gift!
I have an unbelievably supportive group of friends and they were actually the ones who brought to my attention that they saw a bigger opportunity for me. They saw the opportunity to turn my baking passion into a bakery business. They recommended I sell bread and other baked goods out of my own home.
My friends helped me come up with a name for the bakery business, hopped onto Canva to make a logo with me and gave me a good, strong push to start. Within a couple hours – and maybe a glass of wine or two later – I was on Instagram, creating menus & building my own bakery business.
What were the steps you took to turn Belmont St Bakery from idea into inception?
The process of opening Belmont St Bakery was quite quick. I had time on my hands and just went for it with the knowledge and equipment (mainly just my Kitchenaid!) I currently owned. That maybe that wasn’t the best move (I share more about my chaotic first week below!) but I learned very quickly what works and doesn’t work.
First, I created my logo using Canva and started an Instagram page. I opened up orders via Instagram knowing my immediate community was attracted to that style of buying. From there, I self promoted and had friends and family promote the page as well to help spread word about my new bakery business.
I then started baking some of my classic recipes, photographing them, and curating monthly menus. I made sure I had all my ingredients on hand to make as much as possible. It was from there that I was able to price out my cost per item, and finalize the menu prices.
I set up a weekly timeline for ordering and a standing, weekly pickup day. All of this was communicated via Instagram. As this was all happening during a lockdown period, I offered curbside pickup from my front door. All steps taken were geared towards COVID protocol, making sure that everything I did followed the government guidelines and kept my customers safe.
What are the rules about starting a bakery business from your own home?
Historically, the Province of Ontario did not allow for home bakers to sell their goods. The regulations stated you must work out of a commercial kitchen. But during COVID, those rules were amended to allow home bakers to sell their food if they fell under a certain category.
I was lucky enough to fall under that category and as of the new year signed up as an official business. So there is only room to grow from here!
Prior to setting up Belmont St Bakery, what small business knowledge did you have, if any?
Prior to Belmont St Bakery, I had only worked in small businesses, but mostly in customer facing roles. I spent time in hospitality and retail before entering the art world, after completing my Masters in Art History. My roles were primarily managerial which taught me about client relations but also how to keep the businesses running smoothly and organized.
My time management skills are definitely my strength. Organizing oven time with one oven and 25 different orders is a new skill!
Financially, though, I had little to no knowledge but one thing I was not afraid to do was ask for help.
I asked my boyfriend to help me price out my cost of ingredients per item and how to calculate my return per item. Bottom line – he showed me how to know if I was actually making money through my bakery business!
I was always the most scared of the financial aspect of starting a small business, but in the end there are so many people and programs that can help you overcome anything. You just need to find what works for you!
What have been your top 3 biggest learnings when it comes to starting your own bakery business?
What a question – hard to narrow down! Social media and getting the word out have been a big challenge for me. I don’t love sharing my life on social media, especially as I have gotten older, and found the constant need to be posting and engaging quite challenging. Acquiring followers, using the right hashtags and creating engaging content is all new to me and has been a huge learning curve.
Product quality has also been challenging. This is mostly due to the pandemic, as supplies dwindle, the same product isn’t brought back, and factories are running behind on production. The ingredients you choose, make your product special. I don’t just use any all-purpose flour, I use an organic Candian grown and ground flour, which is expensive and hard to find, but makes the best bread!
Last but not least – because let’s be real everything I have done with this bakery business has been a learning curve – but I would say recipe development.
The time and effort it takes into perfecting a recipe is not quick and easy. I have tried multiple different ideas and they failed, miserably!
I have just spent the last 8 months perfecting one recipe, the Chocolate Almond Biscotti, just to find out I can no longer buy the exact chocolate I need for them. But that’s where creativity lies and flourishes and is the most fun part when it works out and you realize you created the perfect bite!
Everyone loves a good hardship story – tell us about your hardest day in the bakery so far and how you overcame it?
The hardest day by far was my very first week. I was overwhelmed with the love and support from my friends and family. I took on way too many orders to keep up with. I kept pushing the pickup time back, making another batch of scones, making more banana bread and cutting biscotti. My whole house was covered in failed attempts, flour, sugar, and a few items good enough to sell!
Eventually I just stopped, looked around and thought to myself “clean this mess up and start again”, so that’s what I did.
I made a pot of coffee, put on some Harry Styles, and cleaned up the disaster I had created. After that it was smooth sailing. I finished the day, fulfilled all the orders and started research on how to maximize my time with one oven!
What are you most proud of about starting a business and the bakery itself?
With starting the bakery business, I am most proud that I realized I can actually do this. I can be my own boss, I can work hard, I can organize myself and my space and make it happen.
With the bakery itself, I am most proud that people like my baked goods. It is the highest compliment. The best part is having someone message you or call you or send you a photo and tell you how amazing it was. It just brings a smile to my face.
Your background is in Art History, tell us a bit more about that area of your life.
From a young age I was always the creative one. I loved arts and crafts and playing dress up. It led me to take art in highschool where I met an amazing teacher who taught me so much and introduced me to art history.
From there I did my Bachelors Degree and my Masters Degree in Art History and Criticism with a focus on Fashion and Art. I was always most interested in how art portrayed the history of everyday social customs; from food, to clothing, to etiquette. I thought it was fascinating how one portrait could convey not only a person but a whole time in history.
Once I graduated, I worked in a few different art galleries and museums. I realized, although I love the history and research aspect to the field of art history, I was more of a people person, so transitioned to a small commercial gallery, focusing on Canadian, affordable art. During that time I learned about the art market, current art trends, interior design, and most importantly how to help a client find the perfect piece for their home.
I really loved my time in that space, the clients, my employers, and the artists. I hope one day to find a way back into the art world, but for now it seems bread is my calling.
What does 10 years from now look like for you? How has starting your own small business helped shape your future vision?
This is a hard one and a conversation I just had a few days ago. I always find myself thinking in 5 to 10 year increments, however right now, thinking in 2 year increments is what is working for me, mentally. Because the bakery business is so new, thinking 2 years out has allowed me to set more realistic goals and feel more connected to them.
Right now, the process of expanding Belmont Street Bakery in some way is what I am moving towards. Belmont St Bakery is currently a very local business driven primarily through Instagram, so I am exploring other channels to increase my awareness, as well as looking into options for being able to scale and serve more customers, such as production facilities & delivery options.
I have been visualizing creating a space that feels cozy and warm with bread and coffee, friends and laughter. So let’s hope this pandemic slowly winds down to allow for this dream to come through! I will keep you posted!
And we have to ask, favourite item on your menu?
The cheddar scones! They are light, fluffy, buttery with the perfect hint of cheddar. I could eat them all day!
You can check out all Belmont St Bakery on Instagram and follow along as Elyse continues to build out her new bakery business.