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00:00

Hey guys and welcome back to the show. This is Ted your friend and host speaking now on today’s show we have a very special guest my good friend oz Reyes Bellamy audrius is a professional pastry chef who founded laundry, a direct customer virtual bakery that specializes in a distinctive collection of handmade blondies. Inspired by generosity of the honing your craft in Michelin starred restaurants such as the French Laundry and Thomas Keller’s, do, Shawn always decided to unleash her bodies into the world today Austria’s cows companies such as Netflix, Salesforce and Bloomingdale’s as her customers. And she’s even been featured on numerous publications such as the Cosmopolitan magazine, The New York Times and The Washington Post. So join us in today’s adventure, as Andrea shares a color Neri journey, why she decided to set up laundry as a virtual bakery, and how she grew laundry to be a bakery that even celebrities such as Mark Wahlberg are raving about. So guys, if you’d like to support the show in the best way you can do this is to subscribe, leave a review and to share with somebody who find it useful as well. Now it’s a way to say thank you to you guys. If you actually do subscribe and leave a review on Apple podcasts by the end of September, you stand a chance to win $50 worth of gift vouchers from Amazon. one lucky winner will be chosen at random. And now let’s dive right in. He owes us thank you for joining us today. Such a pleasure to have you here.

 

01:16

Yes, I’m super excited to be here. Thanks for having me.

 

01:19

Now. Let’s start with a very simple icebreaker so we can all get to know you a bit better. Could you share with us who is always Bellamy when she isn’t working?

 

01:29

She is sleeping. She’s either sleeping or bathing in the sun. I have a beautiful terrace. Um, I like to shop for candles. I like to hike. How’s the summer been for you? so far? It’s been amazing. It’s been amazing. I’ve did a little bit of traveling internationally. More sun and high internationally.

 

01:49

This is your battery these days. So where do you go?

 

01:54

I went to Costa Rica for a few days and I hiked in the mountains. It was gorgeous. Gorgeous. Gorgeous.

 

02:00

I’m so jealous right now. No lgbs you are the owner of a famous virtual bakery in the United States. So I have to ask you this. What is your favorite food?

 

02:09

My favorite food is desserts. No surprise there anything sweet. So I love bagels. Like I live in New York. So I’d love a good bagel with some yummy cheese. I love cupcakes. I love blondies obviously, ice cream. I like sweets in general. Yeah.

 

02:32

Oh, I’m a fan of ice cream as well.

 

02:33

What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream?

 

02:35

Definitely pistachio. So there was once I traveled to Spain and there was this shop and its specialty was really the pistachio flavors. They have salted pistachio and sweet pistachio. And I got

 

02:45

both. That sounds amazing. Yes, I would do the exact same thing. I have to try both of those.

 

02:50

Yeah, especially when it’s famous right. Now as you’re sharing your story, how did your journey in the culinary arts start? Was it something you always wanted to do growing up?

 

02:59

Yes. My whole family were restaurant tours. So my grandmother started a restaurant. They made barbecue though. And I was the only law. I love barbecue. Yes. I was the only one that baked. So okay. I’ve always been the baker. I made all the birthday cakes and cakes and cookies for the holidays. But I wasn’t that good at it. Starting out. Eight years ago,

 

03:27

we all start somewhere. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So there was a little young or three years running around a family restaurant helping out this. So how do you go from there?

 

03:38

Um, I wanted to get better. So I went to pastry school at Johnson and wells in Providence, Rhode Island. And I studied Baking and Pastry Arts and food service entrepreneurship. And yeah, that was that was how I kind of got started.

 

03:57

So always How did you know that piece was the area that you really wanted to focus on? And if I recall correctly, you were on a scholarship during this period.

 

04:05

Yeah. So I wasn’t on a full scholarship. But I did get a scholarship from the Golden Gate restaurant association that covered a good chunk of my tuition. And I knew that patient was something I wanted to do kind of late so I think it was junior or early senior year Johnson and well, okay, my mic school and I was like, Oh, I can start in my major the first year. You don’t have to take all these general ed classes. It’s like, Oh, that sounds cool. I’ve always liked to bake. Why not?

 

04:39

Yeah. What was calling every school like for you?

 

04:42

It was tough. I felt like I was really behind because a lot of the pastry in school is very female dominated while outside in the professional industry. It’s very male dominated. It’s very strange. Um, but yeah, all of the girls, I went to school with had had like baking businesses like for long businesses, they had made a wedding cake before and I had never thought any of that.

 

05:08

So after culinary school was raised, I know you worked for some really decorated Michelin starred restaurants such as the French Laundry, and Thomas callaspo, Sean, also experienced like during this period,

 

05:19

it was, again, tough, this whole thing has been challenge, I should say. Um, but I wanted the challenge. I went after any of Thomas color properties because I wanted to be the best. So I knew I had to work for the best and learn from the best

 

05:37

possibly, could you share a little bit about the difficulties that you’ve faced during this period of time. Now, despite having shared that most of your classmates in Canary school are female, It is no secret that most professional kitchens are staffed by male white cooks, almost the environment, like for a person from your background?

 

05:53

Um, I think you never can say for sure, right. But I think I was picked on a little bit more, or maybe noticed a little bit more my flaws were highlighted, because I was the only black person in the kitchen. Um, so yeah, I mean, I I rose to the rose to a sous chef within a year, though. So like, I was good at what I did. But um, it was just really frustrating sometimes, like trying to get management to support me, in my decisions in front of what would be considered, you know, my, my team, so people who were of lower because the kitchen goes by a brigade system, I don’t know if you know that. So like, I was the sous chef and I had a Demi sous chef, and then a shift a party and a call me underneath me. And it was very hard sometimes to get management to support me, even though I might there same level with the decisions I would make for the rest of my team.

 

07:03

So was it an environment where a person from your background couldn’t really succeed or wasn’t encouraged to succeed? No,

 

07:09

I say that a lot. It’s like they weren’t looking for me to become who I am today. Not even that I’m like, you know that big today but I get I get messages all the time on Instagram from either people I’ve worked with at French Laundry or Busan. Just saying like, Wow, I can’t believe like you went off and did this. Like, you were always so dedicated. But who knew you were going through this? You know, like, so if they definitely underestimated me, for sure.

 

07:37

I still lost. You are clearly shining in your own light right now. So you know. So let’s talk about laundry and your world famous blind brownie recipe.

 

07:48

So the Blondie stemmed from, again, me baking for my family. I started making them while I was in pastry school. So they still were not that good. They weren’t good. Yes. So I was progressing. Every year, around Christmas time, I would come home, and I would work on them. And I loved seeing my family’s reaction when I finally got it right. Or I got it close to what it is now. And I was like, Oh, I have to keep you know, refining this. And then when I moved to New York, they were asking me around like Christmas time where the blondies like, what’s up? Where are they? Are you coming home?

 

08:25

Are you famous for blondies and like,

 

08:28

just for my family, though. And I ended up opening a website just for them as opposed to be just for my family. And they ended up telling all of their friends and family and I sold over 500 orders in like a two week time frame. And I was like, Okay, this is this has to be a business because at that time I was shipping them in little takeout containers and yeah, there was no packaging. It was no packaging.

 

08:53

So how did you feel when you were able to actually fill up 500 orders in the span of two weeks from word of mouth alone?

 

09:00

I felt like it was it was destiny like and I knew I knew that at that time the product was really good but I wasn’t confident that people would pay for it. You know what I mean? Why not? I don’t know I think it was just like sometimes I think as a baker or Alicia’s for me. I’m not ever sure if my family just like something that doesn’t want to hurt my feelings. You know what I mean? So I hadn’t even if I hadn’t taken my product out to pop ups yet and that’s what I tell people now on my YouTube channel is like you have to get your product in front of people who don’t care if they if you like their reaction or not. Like you have to do that to gain confidence in your product. Now I know that my blondies are good now I know.

 

09:52

So guys, as always just shed if you actually feel that maybe your friends and family are not giving you a full and complete review of your product and you Want to know how you can improve, and you really want to find out if the product is something that people really want in the marketplace? Then try testing the product with some strangers, because this way, you may actually get some more true and honest feedback. So as far as I understand, you actually took 10 years to develop your Blondie recipe, but could you share what exactly is the difference between a brownie and the Blondie?

 

10:21

Okay, this is the question I get all the time. Um, so a Blondie is different from a brownie and that we start with a butterscotch thing. So that means we melt butter and brown sugar together and let it melt and become kind of this Carmel syrup, butterscotch. And then we start adding all our ingredients, even our blondies that look chocolate, they all start or they look like a brownie. They all start with a butterscotch base, a brownie typically you melt the butter and the chocolate together and then you start adding all your things. There’s no boiling of it. Yeah, burn the chocolate if you boiled it. So yeah, that’s the main difference.

 

11:02

What do you choose to focus so hot and double down on the Blondie

 

11:06

Empire? Blondie? Um, well, it was it’s always a forgotten about treat when people tell me they met Yeah, when they may tell me they’ve never had a Blondie I’m like you probably have. But it probably wasn’t very memorable. Because bakeries just make it for the people who don’t like chocolate, right? They’re like people who are like, I don’t like chocolate at all. Well, here’s a Blondie, you can pick up the chocolate chips if you don’t like it. But we have like taking this forgotten about product and made it into this. Like you have to have it type of thing. It’s like a it’s I don’t want to call it a commodity, because that’s not what it is at all. It’s a it’s a treat, it’s something special to give yourself or a friend or a loved one.

 

11:51

And you clearly stick your flag in this category of pastries itself. So guys, as always share she she spotted a gap in the market, which is the blondies, which have been forgotten as treats. So she decided to make this has injured product, she spent 10 years researching and developing the recipe. And now she has a winning product that has gotten her fans from all over the world. Now this is a very core fundamental way to actually set yourself apart from the industry and the competitors. So always remember, if you can find a gap in the market and you can address it, well, then you can stand out. So azorius laundry is set up as a limited release direct to consumer virtual bakery. Could you share with us why you chose such a business model? It sounds like a very deliberate move. And could you share? What are the benefits to it?

 

12:35

Yeah, so initially, it started with a limited release. Well, let’s start for the virtual part. It started as a virtual bakery. Because I didn’t want to storefront. I just didn’t want to run a storefront. I felt like it was a dated concept and save on rent. Exactly. I can be anywhere I can bake from anywhere. And I was baking from my home anyway. But first. So it was kind of like, Oh, well, I’m a virtual bakery, you know. And then the limited release part came because because of how we package the blondies. And because of just the nature of the product, it doesn’t do well with shipping during the summer. And I started I watched my analytics all of 2019 and most of the 2020 and saw that there were key times a year where people were my sales would jump you know, so that’s Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, so why be open all that time. And in New York rent is very expensive. So there’s a lot of kitchens where you rent by the hour. So in order for me to take advantage of that, like being able to rent by the hour, and not have to pay a monthly rent fee, I would need to be very organized and when I need to be in that kitchen and when I was not in the kitchen and how much money was I paying and storage fees. So the limited release came about simply because of my environment kind of demanded it.

 

14:08

And I think the idea so is that you want your bakery to reach the whole country in the United States. So having that extra space or physical storefront in New York itself wouldn’t play to your strengths actually,

 

14:20

exactly, exactly. Because we have we meet we have so much packaging, we have to like keep on hand, because at any time we can get an order for 300 you know, a corporate order for 300 boxes. So we have to keep high of high volume of packaging on hand and it’s so many different moving parts of that with a bakery, you can just have one bakery box and put six cupcakes in it. Here you go. But we have different skews and different sizes. So we have to keep a lot of different things on hand, which I mean it all balances out. Like margin wise like our margins are great. But yeah, that’s why.

 

15:02

So guys, as always this shit. The reason why she structured laundry as a virtual bakery is to save on the rent that she would have to pay if you actually rented a storefront, which may not be the most cost efficient way to run her business, given that she wanted her business to reach the entire United States of America. Now, it was dubious. Let’s talk a little bit about inventory and stock keeping units. I know you currently have four core flavors in your laundry lined up with some seasonal flavors as well. Could you share with us What went through your mind when you were deliberating this? Was there any consideration as to inventories that you had managed to stop keeping units the cost pricing? Could you share with us whether there were any business reasons for selecting these flavors and structuring the business in this manner?

 

15:43

There actually wasn’t a lot of like business decisions behind it, they were more so creative decisions. So um, I have always demanded the best ingredients for my baking. And when I got to Thomas Keller restaurant group, it just got worse. You know, like I was exposed to, like, fresh blueberries from a farm in Maine and the Kamikaze berry from Japan, like, get wet. You know, I love we just did a partnership with a company in New York that’s vertically growing Kamikaze parents. So like, it’s It was amazing. But yeah, I think there’s, I’ve always demanded the best ingredients. So I’m being a following the limited release model gives me access to these ingredients at different points of the year without having to stick myself into having the same flavors every year, year round. You know, I’m saying like Mrs. meal.

 

16:44

Yeah, I understand that you want to feature the best ingredients around the region. So could you share what are the upcoming flavors for the next season?

 

16:52

I’m super excited about our vegan Blondie. It has, um, it’s a sweet potato Blondie, so yeah. It’s vegan, and which it took me This one took me two years to develop. It’s been a process trying to get this right. Because I wanted something that even people who were not vegan, could enjoy and be like, Oh, this doesn’t even taste vegan. So it’s a sweet potato cheesecake on top of a brown butter Blondie. And it’s made with sweet potato that’s purple. So it’s not obey. Because we can’t get fresh obey in the United States. I don’t know if you knew that. It’s all frozen or a powder. And I wanted to use something fresh. I wanted to take my time and make it so yeah, we’re doing that. And then with each Blondie, I usually will have a matching 11 layer cake. So the cake has um, yeah, it has the sweet potato cake. It has a mochi pond on cake. It has a passion fruit. And it’s all vegan and it’s delicious. It’s so it’s visually it’s purple. It’s white, it’s green, it’s brown, it’s and it has toasted sesame seeds and toasted coconut. And it’s an explosion of flavors that are so well balanced. Not too sweet. It’s beautiful to look at. I’m super excited about it.

 

18:22

You know, as your is your your true master in your craft and your description alone. Wow, come on. Now one thing that caught my attention was when you mentioned ponden. So I’m from Singapore and panda is typically a Southeast Asian ingredient. So how do you come across this ingredient? And how do you want to feature it?

 

18:39

So I grew up in the Bay Area in California, and a lot of the population where I’m from are Filipino. And I noticed that you know, you eat the Holla Holla there’s all these different textures and ingredients in it. And when I came to New York, I met a lady who was making a What was it? I think it’s called Kaia is it called?

 

19:09

Yes, yes. Yeah, it’s a very famous and popular in my country as well. A lot of times the tourists they come in and they buy bottles of at home. Yes, yeah, it’s from you know, pandanus as a flavoring and you know, coconut milk and you know, it’s a, it’s very good with toast. So one of the best ways to eat it is with white toast and some of the best places. Right in the past when I grew up the they would use real charcoal to toast the bread. So you know, that’s very hard to come by. But yeah, I mean, if that’s something that you want to experiment with, be my guess. I hope that serves as some inspiration but it’s, yeah, so we typically have it with half boiled eggs, and coffee. So that’s one of the typical breakfasts that we have in Singapore. So when I heard it about, you know, you sharing it in your vegan bakeries, it’s one of the ingredients I was like. Yeah, inspiration all over the world. But I think that’s the good part. Or another exciting part about being in the food industry, you can really play with a lot of things. And it’s not just a business, there’s a whole creative pursuit behind it as well.

 

20:22

I want people to taste my bodies and remember, like, I love that you’re like, Oh, this is that reminds me of a breakfast. Like I love when I see people or people will try my blondies in front of me they’re like, This tastes like something my grandmother made. Or it creates a new memory I feel like that’s what food is about. That’s what makes things Soul Food quote, Soul Food is that it’s it ignites something in your spirit and in your soul and makes you happy and remember a great time. And luckily, I’m in sweet. So already, it’s like pinging in your brain and making you happy.

 

20:57

Yeah, it’s kind of hard to be set when you’re having something delicious. Exactly. Now, always worries your clients. They include Bloomingdale’s, Netflix and Salesforce. So how did you secure these high profile clients? I know when Netflix media order was actually for the Emmy nominees. How cool was that? Yes.

 

21:20

That was amazing. And that was like when the business had just started taking off last year. Um, it was amazing. And I felt so good again with people like, um, gosh, there are so many celebrities that repost it. I know he didn’t post but my might. Mike Mark Walberg. Um, wow. said that he really liked our pecan and salted caramel blondies. He told his Netflix rep that and I was like, Oh, yeah, so I mean, Netflix, they found us on Instagram, Salesforce, they found us on Instagram, Bloomingdale’s, I went to Bloomingdale’s with samples. Okay. So that’s how that happened. But yeah,

 

22:06

no worries. What about the features in the New York Times, the Washington Post and Cosmopolitan magazine? How do these opportunities come down

 

22:13

on Instagram?

 

22:15

Wow, the power of social media

 

22:16

asleep. Like we were just now starting to do more outreach and reaching out to different editors and bloggers and people who write for different publications. But everything up until now has been inbound. And they either find us on Instagram, or most of them say that they find us on the internet. I don’t know how. But they just say that they found us on the internet.

 

22:43

All the reasons must be because the blonde is so good. And laundry itself has such a strong story to share as well. So as a result, how else are you growing the sales for your business these days? I know you work on a limited release concept. Does this help to maybe create some hype when you actually sell your products itself?

 

22:59

I think so. I think when people hear waitlist, they’re like, Oh, wait, what? I can’t order it right now. Um, but yeah, I think the limited release part definitely has helped build the hype. And, um, yeah, we’re growing sales organically. Mostly, we just started doing more outreach. So um, I mean, our content is a huge, huge factor for us. I spend a lot of time and energy on making content for all the different platforms. We’re on Instagram, mostly. But I start I actually kind of went viral recently on Tick Tock. Oh, kinda. I don’t know if I have 200,000 views on a video. I feel like that’s kind of viral that

 

23:44

is viral. Okay.

 

23:50

Yeah, I, I try to make content that people actually want to see. So I’m not one of those people who just post whenever, like just post things just because I post when I have something to say, or something to show or something to inspire people. So I, I’ve been doing that from the beginning with laundries just posting authentic content, and I think it still works.

 

24:15

Yeah. So firstly, I think it’s a testament to the quality of your Blondie that a lot of the sales or the way that the business has grown is actually true, organic word of mouth. But on the flip side, I’ve seen your content that you’ve been posting, what I can say from third party perspective, is that there’s a element of relatability and authenticity that I think you are really able to communicate to your audience, which must be one of the reasons why people are so into following you. So you know, hats off to that there’s not something you could manufacture and I think it’s just a testament of your personality, and the way you run the business.

 

24:58

Thank you. I couldn’t do it any other Either way, like I honestly couldn’t sit up here and be fake with people on Instagram. This is hard. Like this is challenging. I haven’t had the easiest time, but it’s super rewarding. It’s super fun. I love creating the different flavors. I love talking to people like you. So yeah.

 

25:19

And I’m sure you’re inspiring the next generation of bakers as well. Now, but as always, let’s talk a little bit about the delivery issues that you face at the start of your business. What was it like? And how did it affect your margins in the past? And maybe could you share about how you have worked to rectify this overtime as well?

 

25:39

Yeah, so a big thing that happened was a since we’re so dependent on our shipping partners to deliver the product in a timely manner. A lot of not a lot of times, but more than a few times, we’ve lost shipments completely because either someone delivered it too late, because there was a storm in Memphis or at their main hub. And the package was stuck there for seven days. And if it gets to our customer, after seven days, it’s kind of an edible at that point. So I mean, we’ve definitely lost a lot of money. A lot of money, like the most recent one that really hit us really hard was there was a storm in Tennessee. And it was right after one of our drops, I can’t remember. But we lost about $15,000 worth of products. And we were just starting out, you know. So that’s a lot of money. And I’m, you know, I’m luckily now I’m just now getting reimbursed for some of that. But a lot of the and I’m lucky to be getting that reimbursement, because they all have the shipping man, all the shipping carriers here had suspended their guarantees, meaning if they had lost a package, they had already told us we’re not paying for it, because of the high volume of shipping that was happening in 2020. Yeah, they were just like you can’t keep track of it were crumbling, their system was crumbling. So they just turned off their shipping here and no money back guarantee. Basically, you’re not getting your money back. But they have reimbursed a good chunk of the money. So far. So but yeah, that that’s really hard, because we still have these customers who have been on our waitlist, do you were looking for their product? So we had to reship it? We couldn’t just be like, oh, FedEx lost it. We can’t do anything about it. No, we I wanted to provide my customers the best experience. So we ended up having to reship all those orders, which you know, cost us double then at that point?

 

27:46

Well, at least they got a taste your Blondie said? What do you think about this issue right now? Do you think there’s something they can resolve soon? Or is this still work in progress?

 

27:56

Yeah, I think it’s still a work in progress. I mean, I would love to get to the point where, you know, we’re like Amazon and have our own trucks where we could just deliver our products, and we have different warehouses, making blondies all across the country. But we’re not there yet. So we’re dependent on FedEx. And I think that most people right now are very understanding if you just get ahead of the situation. So like we sent an email, as soon as we got the alert that some of these packages are going to be later than expected. We told our customers like, Look, this happened. If you get your order, it’s on you if you still eat it, but were we shipping you a fresh one? Yeah, where are we shipping you a fresh one, you can eat the one that you got, if you want. Okay, we’re not suggesting it. But if you want to you can, but we are shipping you a fresh one. It’s on the way, here’s your new tracking number. And most people are very happy about

 

28:49

that. Yeah, that’s a great way to actually build that relationship with your customers. I know you clearly placed them as a priority. So I’m sure that something that they acknowledged as well, and they really appreciate and I’m sure that helps with the the relationship with them and a word of mouth that comes about as well. They know that, you know, laundry goes the extra mile, literally sending another batch of Yeah, but that probably is one of the reasons why the word of mouth aspect has played out so well for you as well. Now I was raised, I know you’re an advocate for social changes as well. And you’ve also recently donated half of your proceeds from your Brooklyn blackout Lowndes to the Equal Justice Initiative as part of the nationwide because against racism campaign in the United States. Could you share with us a little bit more about this campaign and your experience with helping it out?

 

29:38

Yeah, so um, Baker’s against racism was a campaign to highlight the organizations that are actually on the ground fighting for different causes. So I chose the Equal Justice Initiative, which I had when I visited their Museum in Alabama in 2017. I I believe and was completely moved and changed forever after seeing the monument to the people who are actually from my grandmother’s hometown in Choctaw Alabama, we found like their, their monument to the lynchings that happened in the south. So the Equal Justice Initiative is a company that helps people who are formerly incarcerated or currently incarcerated, due to the agenda of mass incarceration of black people in America get proper legal representation. So they hire lawyers, for people who can’t afford a lawyer, or can’t afford a good lawyer, you know what I mean? So, um, I chose them to donate my proceeds to we ended up raising a ton of money for them, and also just highlighting what they’re doing. I still get emails today about like, thank you so much for introducing me to them, because they do a lot of great work. And it’s not just for people in Alabama, they’re doing work for people all over the country. So

 

31:03

it was really what are you hoping to see for maybe women of color and from your background, in the food industry moving forward?

 

31:10

Um, you know, I think that we already have a lot of growth going on with especially women of color, or people who’ve been taught who are notoriously marginalized with us, because of the pandemic, a lot of us have been given a bigger platform to share our stories. And therefore, we can garner more support. I think our fight is, is no longer a fight that we need to fight as a black woman. So especially with protesting, I feel like that’s a fight that white people have to fight with other white people. Because I’m tired. My ancestors are tired. Like we’re tired of saying the same things over and over. So I feel like it’s up to my white peers. And I tell them this like to check your parents to check your grandparents who are racist, to check your employer’s and your your other friends who say racist things, and explain to them you know, what’s real? Or what’s, what’s the truth? It’s not my fight anymore. I don’t feel like I need to fight for that anymore. I just I have to worry about being black in America. That’s my main thing I have to do right now. And that’s enough.

 

32:27

No serious. Let’s talk about another interesting project that you’re working on. I know you have a baking with laundry virtual experience. Can you share with us what this is about?

 

32:35

Yes. So we did something super fun. Like before the pandemic we were doing in person classes. And that was fun, too. But I feel like doing in person baking class only limits you to who lives in the area. Right. So join it virtually. We had people from Malaysia, we had people from Texas, we have people from Canada, we had we even had someone from I forget what part of India but she was in India. And I felt like it was so cool for all of us to connect, and just talk about baking. So there’s a few different things that we do like, for the holidays, we did cake jars. So we do like a Blondie, and then brother creams and we make it together. Um, and then for the Valentine’s Day One, what did we do, I think we did a chocolate mousse, which was super fun, too. And I give I give adjustments if needed. So like, if you can’t get heavy cream, I can recommend you a coconut cream or something like that. So yeah, like it’s been super fun doing that I love doing that you can find different dates that we’ll do during the holiday season will be announced on our Instagram or on our website.

 

33:52

So as readers, could you share with us a little bit more about how to program would work. Students have to source their own ingredients. And how long would the program take?

 

34:00

Yeah, yeah. So it depends on the type of experience I’m offering at that time. But if there’s either I give you the list ahead of time, and you get your ingredients ready, and we’re just on zoom for about an hour and a half making this recipe together. Or sometimes I do it where it’s 45 minutes, and I’m just making it and I’ll send you the recipe at the end. And you can always follow up and ask me questions. I’ve done both and both of them have been really popular just depends on what type of experience you’re looking for.

 

34:30

Oh, I see. You know, actually, this sounds like a very good corporate team building event as well.

 

34:34

I do do it a lot for corporate clients because it’s a team building activity. So like I do it for Google, like all the time, like almost once a week. Books me Yeah, for a corporate virtual corporate experience, but it’s different departments and Google and I don’t think they all know each other. Like it’s kind of Yeah, it’s it’s amazing how that’s happening. But I also do it for just my followers and people who Follow up laundry, and that it’s all over the board. It’s kids, it’s moms, it’s people who want to start a bakery. It’s people who just like to eat baked goods, and they just want to watch. You know, it’s kind of becomes like a cooking show, I guess for them. But yeah, that when I released it to my followers, the few times I’ve done it, it’s been all over the place kids, moms, dads, whoever,

 

35:25

so asked us, what do you see in the future of laundry? Where do you want to bring it to,

 

35:31

I would love for blonde Ray to grow into a few things. So right now cannabis is becoming legal in New York. And I would love to branch off into making high quality baked goods that are infused with cannabis products. And then I also would love to do a ready to bake collection. So that’s completely random. But not that much. Because I’m a pastry chef, I go and make things for my families and friends All the time. And when I go when I want to shortcut, so if I want to make a pie, I’ll have to go and make the pie dough and let it chill overnight, roll it out. I don’t I can’t go to the grocery store and just pick up something that’s the same level of quality that I would personally make. So I feel like a collection of pie those puff pastry croissant dough, biscuits, that’s something that I can grab at the grocery store order on amazon prime and get it shipped directly to my house that I can just keep in my freezer for when inspiration strikes, I think could be really cool and fun. For a lot of people. Yeah,

 

36:37

sounds like it. So if the listeners only remember one thing about today’s conversation, I was curious, what would you like it to be?

 

36:43

Um, blonde berry is coming to a country, town and city near us. So make sure you come to our pop ups when we come to Singapore, or wherever you guys are listening from

 

36:57

Australia is how can our listeners get in contact with you if they want to buy your Blondie? Yeah,

 

37:01

you can follow me at blonde Bri on Instagram, or check out our website laundry.com. Can I tell them about the promo code? Right? Okay, so we are offering $10 off your first online order for orders that are going to be shipped within the United States. So if you’re not in the United States, I’m sorry, we can’t ship to you just yet. But if you have a friend in the United States, you can call them on zoom when they get their package and they can eat it in front of you. And they’ll tell you how good it is. So yeah, the promo code is Ted Teo. And it’s $10 off your first order.

 

37:34

Yeah. So for the listeners who aren’t in the United States, you know, you can always get the virtual experience and also reach out to me teaching you how to be How cool was that? Yeah. So thank you for joining us. It was such a pleasure speaking with

 

37:50

you. Yes, thank you. This has been awesome,

 

37:52

guys. Thank you for joining me and I was racing today’s episode. I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling hungry right now. Now if you’re thinking about starting a new business like a bakery, why don’t think about doing it virtually just like I was raised. By doing this, she was able to cut the need for a storefront. And this has provided huge cost savings they would have otherwise eaten into her margins. Now don’t forget to check out all the resources on my website at Ted Teo calm. In all seriousness episode page, there’s a link to our online store. And if you use the code, Ted Teo, that’s t dt O, you’ll get $10 off for your first purchase by listeners in the United States. So guys, if you enjoyed today’s episode, and you’d like to show your support, and don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review and share this with somebody who will find it useful as well. And as a way to say thank you to you guys. you subscribe and leave a review on Apple podcasts by the end of September, then you may stand a chance to win $50 worth of gift vouchers from Amazon. one lucky winner will be chosen at the end of the month. That’s all for me today. I’ll see you next time.

[This transcript has been automatically generated by a digital software and will therefore  contain errors and typos. Please kindly take note of this and only rely on the digital transcript for reference.]

00:00

Hey guys and welcome back to the show. This is Ted your friend and host speaking now on today’s show we have a very special guest my good friend oz Reyes Bellamy audrius is a professional pastry chef who founded laundry, a direct customer virtual bakery that specializes in a distinctive collection of handmade blondies. Inspired by generosity of the honing your craft in Michelin starred restaurants such as the French Laundry and Thomas Keller’s, do, Shawn always decided to unleash her bodies into the world today Austria’s cows companies such as Netflix, Salesforce and Bloomingdale’s as her customers. And she’s even been featured on numerous publications such as the Cosmopolitan magazine, The New York Times and The Washington Post. So join us in today’s adventure, as Andrea shares a color Neri journey, why she decided to set up laundry as a virtual bakery, and how she grew laundry to be a bakery that even celebrities such as Mark Wahlberg are raving about. So guys, if you’d like to support the show in the best way you can do this is to subscribe, leave a review and to share with somebody who find it useful as well. Now it’s a way to say thank you to you guys. If you actually do subscribe and leave a review on Apple podcasts by the end of September, you stand a chance to win $50 worth of gift vouchers from Amazon. one lucky winner will be chosen at random. And now let’s dive right in. He owes us thank you for joining us today. Such a pleasure to have you here.

 

01:16

Yes, I’m super excited to be here. Thanks for having me.

 

01:19

Now. Let’s start with a very simple icebreaker so we can all get to know you a bit better. Could you share with us who is always Bellamy when she isn’t working?

 

01:29

She is sleeping. She’s either sleeping or bathing in the sun. I have a beautiful terrace. Um, I like to shop for candles. I like to hike. How’s the summer been for you? so far? It’s been amazing. It’s been amazing. I’ve did a little bit of traveling internationally. More sun and high internationally.

 

01:49

This is your battery these days. So where do you go?

 

01:54

I went to Costa Rica for a few days and I hiked in the mountains. It was gorgeous. Gorgeous. Gorgeous.

 

02:00

I’m so jealous right now. No lgbs you are the owner of a famous virtual bakery in the United States. So I have to ask you this. What is your favorite food?

 

02:09

My favorite food is desserts. No surprise there anything sweet. So I love bagels. Like I live in New York. So I’d love a good bagel with some yummy cheese. I love cupcakes. I love blondies obviously, ice cream. I like sweets in general. Yeah.

 

02:32

Oh, I’m a fan of ice cream as well.

 

02:33

What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream?

 

02:35

Definitely pistachio. So there was once I traveled to Spain and there was this shop and its specialty was really the pistachio flavors. They have salted pistachio and sweet pistachio. And I got

 

02:45

both. That sounds amazing. Yes, I would do the exact same thing. I have to try both of those.

 

02:50

Yeah, especially when it’s famous right. Now as you’re sharing your story, how did your journey in the culinary arts start? Was it something you always wanted to do growing up?

 

02:59

Yes. My whole family were restaurant tours. So my grandmother started a restaurant. They made barbecue though. And I was the only law. I love barbecue. Yes. I was the only one that baked. So okay. I’ve always been the baker. I made all the birthday cakes and cakes and cookies for the holidays. But I wasn’t that good at it. Starting out. Eight years ago,

 

03:27

we all start somewhere. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So there was a little young or three years running around a family restaurant helping out this. So how do you go from there?

 

03:38

Um, I wanted to get better. So I went to pastry school at Johnson and wells in Providence, Rhode Island. And I studied Baking and Pastry Arts and food service entrepreneurship. And yeah, that was that was how I kind of got started.

 

03:57

So always How did you know that piece was the area that you really wanted to focus on? And if I recall correctly, you were on a scholarship during this period.

 

04:05

Yeah. So I wasn’t on a full scholarship. But I did get a scholarship from the Golden Gate restaurant association that covered a good chunk of my tuition. And I knew that patient was something I wanted to do kind of late so I think it was junior or early senior year Johnson and well, okay, my mic school and I was like, Oh, I can start in my major the first year. You don’t have to take all these general ed classes. It’s like, Oh, that sounds cool. I’ve always liked to bake. Why not?

 

04:39

Yeah. What was calling every school like for you?

 

04:42

It was tough. I felt like I was really behind because a lot of the pastry in school is very female dominated while outside in the professional industry. It’s very male dominated. It’s very strange. Um, but yeah, all of the girls, I went to school with had had like baking businesses like for long businesses, they had made a wedding cake before and I had never thought any of that.

 

05:08

So after culinary school was raised, I know you worked for some really decorated Michelin starred restaurants such as the French Laundry, and Thomas callaspo, Sean, also experienced like during this period,

 

05:19

it was, again, tough, this whole thing has been challenge, I should say. Um, but I wanted the challenge. I went after any of Thomas color properties because I wanted to be the best. So I knew I had to work for the best and learn from the best

 

05:37

possibly, could you share a little bit about the difficulties that you’ve faced during this period of time. Now, despite having shared that most of your classmates in Canary school are female, It is no secret that most professional kitchens are staffed by male white cooks, almost the environment, like for a person from your background?

 

05:53

Um, I think you never can say for sure, right. But I think I was picked on a little bit more, or maybe noticed a little bit more my flaws were highlighted, because I was the only black person in the kitchen. Um, so yeah, I mean, I I rose to the rose to a sous chef within a year, though. So like, I was good at what I did. But um, it was just really frustrating sometimes, like trying to get management to support me, in my decisions in front of what would be considered, you know, my, my team, so people who were of lower because the kitchen goes by a brigade system, I don’t know if you know that. So like, I was the sous chef and I had a Demi sous chef, and then a shift a party and a call me underneath me. And it was very hard sometimes to get management to support me, even though I might there same level with the decisions I would make for the rest of my team.

 

07:03

So was it an environment where a person from your background couldn’t really succeed or wasn’t encouraged to succeed? No,

 

07:09

I say that a lot. It’s like they weren’t looking for me to become who I am today. Not even that I’m like, you know that big today but I get I get messages all the time on Instagram from either people I’ve worked with at French Laundry or Busan. Just saying like, Wow, I can’t believe like you went off and did this. Like, you were always so dedicated. But who knew you were going through this? You know, like, so if they definitely underestimated me, for sure.

 

07:37

I still lost. You are clearly shining in your own light right now. So you know. So let’s talk about laundry and your world famous blind brownie recipe.

 

07:48

So the Blondie stemmed from, again, me baking for my family. I started making them while I was in pastry school. So they still were not that good. They weren’t good. Yes. So I was progressing. Every year, around Christmas time, I would come home, and I would work on them. And I loved seeing my family’s reaction when I finally got it right. Or I got it close to what it is now. And I was like, Oh, I have to keep you know, refining this. And then when I moved to New York, they were asking me around like Christmas time where the blondies like, what’s up? Where are they? Are you coming home?

 

08:25

Are you famous for blondies and like,

 

08:28

just for my family, though. And I ended up opening a website just for them as opposed to be just for my family. And they ended up telling all of their friends and family and I sold over 500 orders in like a two week time frame. And I was like, Okay, this is this has to be a business because at that time I was shipping them in little takeout containers and yeah, there was no packaging. It was no packaging.

 

08:53

So how did you feel when you were able to actually fill up 500 orders in the span of two weeks from word of mouth alone?

 

09:00

I felt like it was it was destiny like and I knew I knew that at that time the product was really good but I wasn’t confident that people would pay for it. You know what I mean? Why not? I don’t know I think it was just like sometimes I think as a baker or Alicia’s for me. I’m not ever sure if my family just like something that doesn’t want to hurt my feelings. You know what I mean? So I hadn’t even if I hadn’t taken my product out to pop ups yet and that’s what I tell people now on my YouTube channel is like you have to get your product in front of people who don’t care if they if you like their reaction or not. Like you have to do that to gain confidence in your product. Now I know that my blondies are good now I know.

 

09:52

So guys, as always just shed if you actually feel that maybe your friends and family are not giving you a full and complete review of your product and you Want to know how you can improve, and you really want to find out if the product is something that people really want in the marketplace? Then try testing the product with some strangers, because this way, you may actually get some more true and honest feedback. So as far as I understand, you actually took 10 years to develop your Blondie recipe, but could you share what exactly is the difference between a brownie and the Blondie?

 

10:21

Okay, this is the question I get all the time. Um, so a Blondie is different from a brownie and that we start with a butterscotch thing. So that means we melt butter and brown sugar together and let it melt and become kind of this Carmel syrup, butterscotch. And then we start adding all our ingredients, even our blondies that look chocolate, they all start or they look like a brownie. They all start with a butterscotch base, a brownie typically you melt the butter and the chocolate together and then you start adding all your things. There’s no boiling of it. Yeah, burn the chocolate if you boiled it. So yeah, that’s the main difference.

 

11:02

What do you choose to focus so hot and double down on the Blondie

 

11:06

Empire? Blondie? Um, well, it was it’s always a forgotten about treat when people tell me they met Yeah, when they may tell me they’ve never had a Blondie I’m like you probably have. But it probably wasn’t very memorable. Because bakeries just make it for the people who don’t like chocolate, right? They’re like people who are like, I don’t like chocolate at all. Well, here’s a Blondie, you can pick up the chocolate chips if you don’t like it. But we have like taking this forgotten about product and made it into this. Like you have to have it type of thing. It’s like a it’s I don’t want to call it a commodity, because that’s not what it is at all. It’s a it’s a treat, it’s something special to give yourself or a friend or a loved one.

 

11:51

And you clearly stick your flag in this category of pastries itself. So guys, as always share she she spotted a gap in the market, which is the blondies, which have been forgotten as treats. So she decided to make this has injured product, she spent 10 years researching and developing the recipe. And now she has a winning product that has gotten her fans from all over the world. Now this is a very core fundamental way to actually set yourself apart from the industry and the competitors. So always remember, if you can find a gap in the market and you can address it, well, then you can stand out. So azorius laundry is set up as a limited release direct to consumer virtual bakery. Could you share with us why you chose such a business model? It sounds like a very deliberate move. And could you share? What are the benefits to it?

 

12:35

Yeah, so initially, it started with a limited release. Well, let’s start for the virtual part. It started as a virtual bakery. Because I didn’t want to storefront. I just didn’t want to run a storefront. I felt like it was a dated concept and save on rent. Exactly. I can be anywhere I can bake from anywhere. And I was baking from my home anyway. But first. So it was kind of like, Oh, well, I’m a virtual bakery, you know. And then the limited release part came because because of how we package the blondies. And because of just the nature of the product, it doesn’t do well with shipping during the summer. And I started I watched my analytics all of 2019 and most of the 2020 and saw that there were key times a year where people were my sales would jump you know, so that’s Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, so why be open all that time. And in New York rent is very expensive. So there’s a lot of kitchens where you rent by the hour. So in order for me to take advantage of that, like being able to rent by the hour, and not have to pay a monthly rent fee, I would need to be very organized and when I need to be in that kitchen and when I was not in the kitchen and how much money was I paying and storage fees. So the limited release came about simply because of my environment kind of demanded it.

 

14:08

And I think the idea so is that you want your bakery to reach the whole country in the United States. So having that extra space or physical storefront in New York itself wouldn’t play to your strengths actually,

 

14:20

exactly, exactly. Because we have we meet we have so much packaging, we have to like keep on hand, because at any time we can get an order for 300 you know, a corporate order for 300 boxes. So we have to keep high of high volume of packaging on hand and it’s so many different moving parts of that with a bakery, you can just have one bakery box and put six cupcakes in it. Here you go. But we have different skews and different sizes. So we have to keep a lot of different things on hand, which I mean it all balances out. Like margin wise like our margins are great. But yeah, that’s why.

 

15:02

So guys, as always this shit. The reason why she structured laundry as a virtual bakery is to save on the rent that she would have to pay if you actually rented a storefront, which may not be the most cost efficient way to run her business, given that she wanted her business to reach the entire United States of America. Now, it was dubious. Let’s talk a little bit about inventory and stock keeping units. I know you currently have four core flavors in your laundry lined up with some seasonal flavors as well. Could you share with us What went through your mind when you were deliberating this? Was there any consideration as to inventories that you had managed to stop keeping units the cost pricing? Could you share with us whether there were any business reasons for selecting these flavors and structuring the business in this manner?

 

15:43

There actually wasn’t a lot of like business decisions behind it, they were more so creative decisions. So um, I have always demanded the best ingredients for my baking. And when I got to Thomas Keller restaurant group, it just got worse. You know, like I was exposed to, like, fresh blueberries from a farm in Maine and the Kamikaze berry from Japan, like, get wet. You know, I love we just did a partnership with a company in New York that’s vertically growing Kamikaze parents. So like, it’s It was amazing. But yeah, I think there’s, I’ve always demanded the best ingredients. So I’m being a following the limited release model gives me access to these ingredients at different points of the year without having to stick myself into having the same flavors every year, year round. You know, I’m saying like Mrs. meal.

 

16:44

Yeah, I understand that you want to feature the best ingredients around the region. So could you share what are the upcoming flavors for the next season?

 

16:52

I’m super excited about our vegan Blondie. It has, um, it’s a sweet potato Blondie, so yeah. It’s vegan, and which it took me This one took me two years to develop. It’s been a process trying to get this right. Because I wanted something that even people who were not vegan, could enjoy and be like, Oh, this doesn’t even taste vegan. So it’s a sweet potato cheesecake on top of a brown butter Blondie. And it’s made with sweet potato that’s purple. So it’s not obey. Because we can’t get fresh obey in the United States. I don’t know if you knew that. It’s all frozen or a powder. And I wanted to use something fresh. I wanted to take my time and make it so yeah, we’re doing that. And then with each Blondie, I usually will have a matching 11 layer cake. So the cake has um, yeah, it has the sweet potato cake. It has a mochi pond on cake. It has a passion fruit. And it’s all vegan and it’s delicious. It’s so it’s visually it’s purple. It’s white, it’s green, it’s brown, it’s and it has toasted sesame seeds and toasted coconut. And it’s an explosion of flavors that are so well balanced. Not too sweet. It’s beautiful to look at. I’m super excited about it.

 

18:22

You know, as your is your your true master in your craft and your description alone. Wow, come on. Now one thing that caught my attention was when you mentioned ponden. So I’m from Singapore and panda is typically a Southeast Asian ingredient. So how do you come across this ingredient? And how do you want to feature it?

 

18:39

So I grew up in the Bay Area in California, and a lot of the population where I’m from are Filipino. And I noticed that you know, you eat the Holla Holla there’s all these different textures and ingredients in it. And when I came to New York, I met a lady who was making a What was it? I think it’s called Kaia is it called?

 

19:09

Yes, yes. Yeah, it’s a very famous and popular in my country as well. A lot of times the tourists they come in and they buy bottles of at home. Yes, yeah, it’s from you know, pandanus as a flavoring and you know, coconut milk and you know, it’s a, it’s very good with toast. So one of the best ways to eat it is with white toast and some of the best places. Right in the past when I grew up the they would use real charcoal to toast the bread. So you know, that’s very hard to come by. But yeah, I mean, if that’s something that you want to experiment with, be my guess. I hope that serves as some inspiration but it’s, yeah, so we typically have it with half boiled eggs, and coffee. So that’s one of the typical breakfasts that we have in Singapore. So when I heard it about, you know, you sharing it in your vegan bakeries, it’s one of the ingredients I was like. Yeah, inspiration all over the world. But I think that’s the good part. Or another exciting part about being in the food industry, you can really play with a lot of things. And it’s not just a business, there’s a whole creative pursuit behind it as well.

 

20:22

I want people to taste my bodies and remember, like, I love that you’re like, Oh, this is that reminds me of a breakfast. Like I love when I see people or people will try my blondies in front of me they’re like, This tastes like something my grandmother made. Or it creates a new memory I feel like that’s what food is about. That’s what makes things Soul Food quote, Soul Food is that it’s it ignites something in your spirit and in your soul and makes you happy and remember a great time. And luckily, I’m in sweet. So already, it’s like pinging in your brain and making you happy.

 

20:57

Yeah, it’s kind of hard to be set when you’re having something delicious. Exactly. Now, always worries your clients. They include Bloomingdale’s, Netflix and Salesforce. So how did you secure these high profile clients? I know when Netflix media order was actually for the Emmy nominees. How cool was that? Yes.

 

21:20

That was amazing. And that was like when the business had just started taking off last year. Um, it was amazing. And I felt so good again with people like, um, gosh, there are so many celebrities that repost it. I know he didn’t post but my might. Mike Mark Walberg. Um, wow. said that he really liked our pecan and salted caramel blondies. He told his Netflix rep that and I was like, Oh, yeah, so I mean, Netflix, they found us on Instagram, Salesforce, they found us on Instagram, Bloomingdale’s, I went to Bloomingdale’s with samples. Okay. So that’s how that happened. But yeah,

 

22:06

no worries. What about the features in the New York Times, the Washington Post and Cosmopolitan magazine? How do these opportunities come down

 

22:13

on Instagram?

 

22:15

Wow, the power of social media

 

22:16

asleep. Like we were just now starting to do more outreach and reaching out to different editors and bloggers and people who write for different publications. But everything up until now has been inbound. And they either find us on Instagram, or most of them say that they find us on the internet. I don’t know how. But they just say that they found us on the internet.

 

22:43

All the reasons must be because the blonde is so good. And laundry itself has such a strong story to share as well. So as a result, how else are you growing the sales for your business these days? I know you work on a limited release concept. Does this help to maybe create some hype when you actually sell your products itself?

 

22:59

I think so. I think when people hear waitlist, they’re like, Oh, wait, what? I can’t order it right now. Um, but yeah, I think the limited release part definitely has helped build the hype. And, um, yeah, we’re growing sales organically. Mostly, we just started doing more outreach. So um, I mean, our content is a huge, huge factor for us. I spend a lot of time and energy on making content for all the different platforms. We’re on Instagram, mostly. But I start I actually kind of went viral recently on Tick Tock. Oh, kinda. I don’t know if I have 200,000 views on a video. I feel like that’s kind of viral that

 

23:44

is viral. Okay.

 

23:50

Yeah, I, I try to make content that people actually want to see. So I’m not one of those people who just post whenever, like just post things just because I post when I have something to say, or something to show or something to inspire people. So I, I’ve been doing that from the beginning with laundries just posting authentic content, and I think it still works.

 

24:15

Yeah. So firstly, I think it’s a testament to the quality of your Blondie that a lot of the sales or the way that the business has grown is actually true, organic word of mouth. But on the flip side, I’ve seen your content that you’ve been posting, what I can say from third party perspective, is that there’s a element of relatability and authenticity that I think you are really able to communicate to your audience, which must be one of the reasons why people are so into following you. So you know, hats off to that there’s not something you could manufacture and I think it’s just a testament of your personality, and the way you run the business.

 

24:58

Thank you. I couldn’t do it any other Either way, like I honestly couldn’t sit up here and be fake with people on Instagram. This is hard. Like this is challenging. I haven’t had the easiest time, but it’s super rewarding. It’s super fun. I love creating the different flavors. I love talking to people like you. So yeah.

 

25:19

And I’m sure you’re inspiring the next generation of bakers as well. Now, but as always, let’s talk a little bit about the delivery issues that you face at the start of your business. What was it like? And how did it affect your margins in the past? And maybe could you share about how you have worked to rectify this overtime as well?

 

25:39

Yeah, so a big thing that happened was a since we’re so dependent on our shipping partners to deliver the product in a timely manner. A lot of not a lot of times, but more than a few times, we’ve lost shipments completely because either someone delivered it too late, because there was a storm in Memphis or at their main hub. And the package was stuck there for seven days. And if it gets to our customer, after seven days, it’s kind of an edible at that point. So I mean, we’ve definitely lost a lot of money. A lot of money, like the most recent one that really hit us really hard was there was a storm in Tennessee. And it was right after one of our drops, I can’t remember. But we lost about $15,000 worth of products. And we were just starting out, you know. So that’s a lot of money. And I’m, you know, I’m luckily now I’m just now getting reimbursed for some of that. But a lot of the and I’m lucky to be getting that reimbursement, because they all have the shipping man, all the shipping carriers here had suspended their guarantees, meaning if they had lost a package, they had already told us we’re not paying for it, because of the high volume of shipping that was happening in 2020. Yeah, they were just like you can’t keep track of it were crumbling, their system was crumbling. So they just turned off their shipping here and no money back guarantee. Basically, you’re not getting your money back. But they have reimbursed a good chunk of the money. So far. So but yeah, that that’s really hard, because we still have these customers who have been on our waitlist, do you were looking for their product? So we had to reship it? We couldn’t just be like, oh, FedEx lost it. We can’t do anything about it. No, we I wanted to provide my customers the best experience. So we ended up having to reship all those orders, which you know, cost us double then at that point?

 

27:46

Well, at least they got a taste your Blondie said? What do you think about this issue right now? Do you think there’s something they can resolve soon? Or is this still work in progress?

 

27:56

Yeah, I think it’s still a work in progress. I mean, I would love to get to the point where, you know, we’re like Amazon and have our own trucks where we could just deliver our products, and we have different warehouses, making blondies all across the country. But we’re not there yet. So we’re dependent on FedEx. And I think that most people right now are very understanding if you just get ahead of the situation. So like we sent an email, as soon as we got the alert that some of these packages are going to be later than expected. We told our customers like, Look, this happened. If you get your order, it’s on you if you still eat it, but were we shipping you a fresh one? Yeah, where are we shipping you a fresh one, you can eat the one that you got, if you want. Okay, we’re not suggesting it. But if you want to you can, but we are shipping you a fresh one. It’s on the way, here’s your new tracking number. And most people are very happy about

 

28:49

that. Yeah, that’s a great way to actually build that relationship with your customers. I know you clearly placed them as a priority. So I’m sure that something that they acknowledged as well, and they really appreciate and I’m sure that helps with the the relationship with them and a word of mouth that comes about as well. They know that, you know, laundry goes the extra mile, literally sending another batch of Yeah, but that probably is one of the reasons why the word of mouth aspect has played out so well for you as well. Now I was raised, I know you’re an advocate for social changes as well. And you’ve also recently donated half of your proceeds from your Brooklyn blackout Lowndes to the Equal Justice Initiative as part of the nationwide because against racism campaign in the United States. Could you share with us a little bit more about this campaign and your experience with helping it out?

 

29:38

Yeah, so um, Baker’s against racism was a campaign to highlight the organizations that are actually on the ground fighting for different causes. So I chose the Equal Justice Initiative, which I had when I visited their Museum in Alabama in 2017. I I believe and was completely moved and changed forever after seeing the monument to the people who are actually from my grandmother’s hometown in Choctaw Alabama, we found like their, their monument to the lynchings that happened in the south. So the Equal Justice Initiative is a company that helps people who are formerly incarcerated or currently incarcerated, due to the agenda of mass incarceration of black people in America get proper legal representation. So they hire lawyers, for people who can’t afford a lawyer, or can’t afford a good lawyer, you know what I mean? So, um, I chose them to donate my proceeds to we ended up raising a ton of money for them, and also just highlighting what they’re doing. I still get emails today about like, thank you so much for introducing me to them, because they do a lot of great work. And it’s not just for people in Alabama, they’re doing work for people all over the country. So

 

31:03

it was really what are you hoping to see for maybe women of color and from your background, in the food industry moving forward?

 

31:10

Um, you know, I think that we already have a lot of growth going on with especially women of color, or people who’ve been taught who are notoriously marginalized with us, because of the pandemic, a lot of us have been given a bigger platform to share our stories. And therefore, we can garner more support. I think our fight is, is no longer a fight that we need to fight as a black woman. So especially with protesting, I feel like that’s a fight that white people have to fight with other white people. Because I’m tired. My ancestors are tired. Like we’re tired of saying the same things over and over. So I feel like it’s up to my white peers. And I tell them this like to check your parents to check your grandparents who are racist, to check your employer’s and your your other friends who say racist things, and explain to them you know, what’s real? Or what’s, what’s the truth? It’s not my fight anymore. I don’t feel like I need to fight for that anymore. I just I have to worry about being black in America. That’s my main thing I have to do right now. And that’s enough.

 

32:27

No serious. Let’s talk about another interesting project that you’re working on. I know you have a baking with laundry virtual experience. Can you share with us what this is about?

 

32:35

Yes. So we did something super fun. Like before the pandemic we were doing in person classes. And that was fun, too. But I feel like doing in person baking class only limits you to who lives in the area. Right. So join it virtually. We had people from Malaysia, we had people from Texas, we have people from Canada, we had we even had someone from I forget what part of India but she was in India. And I felt like it was so cool for all of us to connect, and just talk about baking. So there’s a few different things that we do like, for the holidays, we did cake jars. So we do like a Blondie, and then brother creams and we make it together. Um, and then for the Valentine’s Day One, what did we do, I think we did a chocolate mousse, which was super fun, too. And I give I give adjustments if needed. So like, if you can’t get heavy cream, I can recommend you a coconut cream or something like that. So yeah, like it’s been super fun doing that I love doing that you can find different dates that we’ll do during the holiday season will be announced on our Instagram or on our website.

 

33:52

So as readers, could you share with us a little bit more about how to program would work. Students have to source their own ingredients. And how long would the program take?

 

34:00

Yeah, yeah. So it depends on the type of experience I’m offering at that time. But if there’s either I give you the list ahead of time, and you get your ingredients ready, and we’re just on zoom for about an hour and a half making this recipe together. Or sometimes I do it where it’s 45 minutes, and I’m just making it and I’ll send you the recipe at the end. And you can always follow up and ask me questions. I’ve done both and both of them have been really popular just depends on what type of experience you’re looking for.

 

34:30

Oh, I see. You know, actually, this sounds like a very good corporate team building event as well.

 

34:34

I do do it a lot for corporate clients because it’s a team building activity. So like I do it for Google, like all the time, like almost once a week. Books me Yeah, for a corporate virtual corporate experience, but it’s different departments and Google and I don’t think they all know each other. Like it’s kind of Yeah, it’s it’s amazing how that’s happening. But I also do it for just my followers and people who Follow up laundry, and that it’s all over the board. It’s kids, it’s moms, it’s people who want to start a bakery. It’s people who just like to eat baked goods, and they just want to watch. You know, it’s kind of becomes like a cooking show, I guess for them. But yeah, that when I released it to my followers, the few times I’ve done it, it’s been all over the place kids, moms, dads, whoever,

 

35:25

so asked us, what do you see in the future of laundry? Where do you want to bring it to,

 

35:31

I would love for blonde Ray to grow into a few things. So right now cannabis is becoming legal in New York. And I would love to branch off into making high quality baked goods that are infused with cannabis products. And then I also would love to do a ready to bake collection. So that’s completely random. But not that much. Because I’m a pastry chef, I go and make things for my families and friends All the time. And when I go when I want to shortcut, so if I want to make a pie, I’ll have to go and make the pie dough and let it chill overnight, roll it out. I don’t I can’t go to the grocery store and just pick up something that’s the same level of quality that I would personally make. So I feel like a collection of pie those puff pastry croissant dough, biscuits, that’s something that I can grab at the grocery store order on amazon prime and get it shipped directly to my house that I can just keep in my freezer for when inspiration strikes, I think could be really cool and fun. For a lot of people. Yeah,

 

36:37

sounds like it. So if the listeners only remember one thing about today’s conversation, I was curious, what would you like it to be?

 

36:43

Um, blonde berry is coming to a country, town and city near us. So make sure you come to our pop ups when we come to Singapore, or wherever you guys are listening from

 

36:57

Australia is how can our listeners get in contact with you if they want to buy your Blondie? Yeah,

 

37:01

you can follow me at blonde Bri on Instagram, or check out our website laundry.com. Can I tell them about the promo code? Right? Okay, so we are offering $10 off your first online order for orders that are going to be shipped within the United States. So if you’re not in the United States, I’m sorry, we can’t ship to you just yet. But if you have a friend in the United States, you can call them on zoom when they get their package and they can eat it in front of you. And they’ll tell you how good it is. So yeah, the promo code is Ted Teo. And it’s $10 off your first order.

 

37:34

Yeah. So for the listeners who aren’t in the United States, you know, you can always get the virtual experience and also reach out to me teaching you how to be How cool was that? Yeah. So thank you for joining us. It was such a pleasure speaking with

 

37:50

you. Yes, thank you. This has been awesome,

 

37:52

guys. Thank you for joining me and I was racing today’s episode. I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling hungry right now. Now if you’re thinking about starting a new business like a bakery, why don’t think about doing it virtually just like I was raised. By doing this, she was able to cut the need for a storefront. And this has provided huge cost savings they would have otherwise eaten into her margins. Now don’t forget to check out all the resources on my website at Ted Teo calm. In all seriousness episode page, there’s a link to our online store. And if you use the code, Ted Teo, that’s t dt O, you’ll get $10 off for your first purchase by listeners in the United States. So guys, if you enjoyed today’s episode, and you’d like to show your support, and don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review and share this with somebody who will find it useful as well. And as a way to say thank you to you guys. you subscribe and leave a review on Apple podcasts by the end of September, then you may stand a chance to win $50 worth of gift vouchers from Amazon. one lucky winner will be chosen at the end of the month. That’s all for me today. I’ll see you next time.