5 Years in a Folding Chair

Today marks the fifth anniversary of acquiring Wholesale Sugar Flowers and coincides with the end of its twentieth year in business. When I sat at the closing table, I had no idea what was waiting for me on the other side.? I was only excited and terrified at the new venture. An industry mainly constructed from already successful culinary professionals, I was new to the baking world and didn’t know all the questions to ask or who the players were. Far from a culinary professional, I came in as the outsider feeling like I was having to rush a Greek sorority in college. I was not in the club. In some strange way it was almost good that the former owner of WSF didn’t advertise, but rather built the business organically, otherwise, my entrepreneurial move would have been much more glaring.

The first year proved to be as expected. Mistakes were made – many mistakes. Cash and more cash were needed. Rocks were overturned and skeletons fell out of closets. There was also an insatiable thirst for learning, the business, the partnerships, the customers, the products, and the operations and systems. I could not get enough. I put my former corporate hat on and saw opportunities everywhere from where to grow, where to cut costs, where to improve efficiencies. After pushing all the chips in, I wanted to find out what customers thought of us and ultimately own the history. As I anxiously watched the responses roll in, I was pleasantly surprised (maybe even elated) to find out that in the world of customer satisfaction and NPS, we were world class. Check. I also stuck my neck out into the industry and met some very esteemed chefs with global reach, learned more about how the industry worked and began to formulate ways in which we could participate. Feeling more confident than when I entered Year 1, I looked forward to getting down to business in Year 2. ???????

I’d characterize the next year as close to apocalyptic as it gets. Three weeks after a trip to Asia to meet some of our partners, the world shut down on Friday the 13th – how fitting. We never had a day with zero orders until that day. It felt like I was in a compression chamber, the sound was muffled and thoughts were foggy. Did I just make the biggest bet of my life to place it all on red and it comes up black? Is this really how it’s going to go down? If for nothing other than sheer will, I snapped out of it and fought to the death. I found energy I didn’t know I had left, courage that was all but dissipated, and purpose to support all those who touched this business from our employees, to customers, to partners. And most of them women. I buckled down and got to work. I’ve worked pretty hard in my life but this was another level. In some sadistic way, I found the weight of it all push me to a higher place.? More focused than ever, Year 2 would open doors that I would have never dreamed possible.

Years 3 and 4 were euphoric. Not because we were killing it, but because we survived! Year 3 proved to be something I’d describe as managed chaos. We were trying to predict the unpredictable and took on cost burdens that brought us to the edge. It was excruciating and exhilarating trying to hold steady, recover losses, serve our customers who survived, and find new customers all at the same time. As I look back, I’m filled with amazement at how we pulled off the juggling act. We rolled into Year 4 with fierce determination to continue down the same path towards recovery and growth but the old rule of economics with its supply and demand curves came into the room and slapped us in the face. The pent-up demand from postponed Covid weddings in the prior year leveled out and some of the businesses that were on pause never returned. Layer on the ever-escalating inflationary pressures.

So, in Year 5 we went hunting for new customers, new products, and new ways to engage our community. The year mirrored lyrics in the epic Grateful Dead song, ‘What a long, strange trip it’s been.’ Faced with the reality that things wouldn’t be the same, we took some risks and made good on some, while others almost pulled us back under the water. Again, another year of ups and downs and silver linings for tomorrow.

All this to say that when I took over the company, I looked at it as Day 1 of our rebirth. Five years later as I sit in my folding chair, I can say that we have truly transformed the business and crossed the most difficult hurdles. Five years ago, we weren’t even on the industry radar. Five years later, we sit amongst the 20% of businesses that survive 20 years, 9% of businesses that exceed $1M revenue, and 20% of the businesses that exceed $1M revenue and are woman-owned. When you layer in all factors, we are the 1%. Time to upgrade my chair. ??????