NC PANDEMIC PROFILE: Joan Baumer
(c) 2021 Kate Pope Photography
JOAN BAUMER (The Crepe Cakerie)
Owner, Baker
I’m Joan Baumer. I own The Crepe Cakerie. I make wedding cakes out of crepes.
The NC Stay at Home Order order was issued on March 13, 2020. How did you first feel the impact of those restrictions in your business? Well, you know my situation was a little different than most because I had open heart surgery in December 2019. I was in heart failure. I had a wonderful surgeon, but it takes three months to recover. The day I finished my ninety-day recovery was when COVID hit; the day the Stay at Home order came through. I had let go of projects; I wasn't promoting my business at that time [because of my health], so my situation was different than most - I mean, the venues, photographers, all that work lost - my calendar was open, however, I still love to work.
During the pandemic you started teaching cooking classes - tell me about those. It's really funny, the cooking classes just fell in my lap. I was walking round and round the block like everybody else was at the beginning of COVID, and one of my neighbors asked if I taught cooking classes. And I looked at her and said, ‘yes’. So I started teaching Zoom cooking classes and that kept my spirits up, kept me visible. Then at the same time, I started getting more and more calls for celebration cakes, so what I did in 2020: classes, celebration cakes and even some corporate. I was always doing the little gift bags for brides so I kind of switched gears and did them for realtors, designers, smaller businesses instead.
I did teach cooking for years, so I had a background, but there was no business plan, no investment really, I just did it. I did it initially for three months - free of charge - to build up my audience; it was during that time period when we're all going ‘what's going on in our world?’ and I did it with high school friends - a lot of high school friends and neighbors - people on the west coast people from all over. It was great. We had the best time. That's how it started; it was just sort of my service work. Then I noticed something: if you don't charge people, they cancel or don't have been tell you and they just don't show up, so I had to start charging and that started in the summer. It’s become a sweet little business. It’s really fun. I can’t say that I'll be doing it forever, but I love it now, and it works well with the cakes. The two work hand-in-hand.
With the classes - I have an assistant who works part-time, and we've been working on our strategy - and the new tag line - instead of being cakes and crepes that will make you say ‘oui’. Now our tagline is: Travel the globe with family and friends, one bite at a time. It’s more international but covers all bases: the cooking classes and the cakes (because I can't give them up).
The other thing is I realized is that I cannot teach all the classes myself and also no one has all the skills to teach what the audience wants. I have a team of about a dozen instructors and they come in and teach. This week and I have two instructors coming in one who’s Japanese and she’ll teach sushi on Saturday; and the other – Sunday – is going to be Spanish tapas. Then I'll do a private [class] on Sunday. We’re getting three classes in over the weekend. It's very creative.
And, I do love for my brides and grooms to take the classes.
Are the cooking classes and cake baking all being done from your home? Yes, I have a licensed kitchen. And the cooking classes are virtual. Zoom, it’s safe to do it from my kitchen and, then with the cakes, it's curbside so they come to my front door just pick up the cake.
It’s funny because when I decided to start teaching that was a time when I was still recovering, and my thinking was: I don't know if I have the energy to do the heavy lifting that the cake requires. It’s not just the baking; it's the set up, and then late at night coming back and picking up those heavy cake stands so this seemed perfect. But it kept coming in - the inquiries - and as I improved the marketing of my cooking program my SEO improved. At first, I didn't even want to do the cakes but they're such sweet people that call me. It's just kind of got a mind all its own. I'm very fortunate.
I don't want to mislead you or let you think I've been rolling in dough. (laugh) But, in terms of the creativity, the people I'm working with, and how much I’ve been able to develop my social media skills and my photography. I took a photography course, and it was helpful. I turned my dining room into a studio, and I've got some good like coming into the dining room. Now, I can salt and pepper my feed with my own pictures, so I feel honest.
It's been an interesting year, hasn’t it?
Have you made an adjustment to your business practices because of COVID? I should tell you, I'm a lot older than most people in this industry so I don't need to work. For me, it’s all about kindness. Now there's a sense of trust and helping others. Although I've always liked people, pre-pandemic I was focused more on the bottom line. Now, I'm more interested in making a difference and helping others.
Let me give you an example: I have this sweet woman in Georgia who always takes my classes, and she was in the hospital for AFIB and so I was reaching out to her. We miss you; you've got to come back. Those are the kind of things I don't think I would have had the time to do before because I was so focused on my business being profitable.
The reality of it is, oddly enough, you know the kinder you are to people - and people know it's legitimate - things just come your way; it just comes naturally. I have a much better understanding that all this can go away in a minute and you’ve got to just enjoy every day and use the talent you've got to make others happy. My background - I'm an MBA - I worked for really intense international consulting firm and it was always business, business, business. Even though the cakes are creative and fun there was always a goal. It's crazy, but this change would not have happened without the pandemic.
Has your work or your business improved during the COVID-19 pandemic? Yeah, and let me tell you how. A young lady called me and said, eighteen months or two years earlier she had called me and said she was going to have a 200-person wedding, so she didn’t hire me. But the big wedding didn't go forward because of the pandemic. And now, they're having a wedding with twenty-five people in the garage and she wants one of my cakes! So, my business is actually gotten better because I usually service smaller weddings, and I can accommodate that whereas, I think the serious, traditional cake makers can’t cut their price much for a small cake vs a large one, but I can. And, I don’t have the overhead and employees.
Also, it’s funny, people are thinking differently about their wedding, and they’re thinking [about how to be] unique since they’re not doing grand, and I come to mind. I've been very fortunate that way. And the cooking classes: I would never have done that [without the pandemic], never - even though I love teaching.
I think they’re a lot of companies and businesses who are actually doing better during this: I'm doing better than I was two years ago. I think I will maintain this business model. It's flexible enough. The only glitch is - and it’s one of the reasons why I wanted to get away from the cakes and do more the classes - is that I didn't want to work every weekend - but I figured out pretty fast that people will only have time for classes on the weekend, so there you go.
I'm gonna let things flow as they will. I'm not trying to send kids to college. I’m not trying to conquer the world. I'm really fortunate, really fortunate.
Anything that you want the general public to know about the live events industry? Yes. I mentioned earlier that I think I'm kinder in terms of my business than I used to be, but I think that is true of everyone I know in the wedding industry.
Oh my gosh, the flexibility of the venues when they've got all that overhead and employees; they schedule and reschedule. The planners, the amount of work they've done, the hand-holding, the research, and all the calls they've made. But they are all strong and positive, and they don't complain.