Four Seasons

This Sunday we journey into our 4th farmers market season! The farmers market was a huge, unexpected blessing (and business venture) for us. What started out as a hobby and a hope to make a few extra bucks, turned into a full-time job for both Frankie and I. Lets take a look at how it all began....

Early spring of 2014 (while driving home from a Pirates game-Go Bucs!) the decision was made to contact the Bridgeport Farmers Market to see if they would have space for a cupcake baker. I was slightly discouraged as they were welcoming of us, but they had never had any bakers stay for too long because of the heat. Oh, well-we got this-lets do it! We *quickly created MLC. Everything I learned in all 99 of my business classes went out the door. We needed a name, packaging, labeling, tents, tables, permits, etc-in less than a month.

Where did the name My Little Cupcake come from? Frankie, the kids, my mom and I all sat around our table. A few different names were being thrown around, and then our kids yelled out: "My Little Pony!" We're not sure if that was because they were playing with My Little Pony or not....but we loved My Little Cupcake. (Hey, we have 3 'little cupcakes' too!) Over the past 3 years, we have slightly regretted the name choice as many think our cupcakes are 'little or mini' sized. They aren't-they are standard size, we promise. ;)

The first market day was terrifying, intimidating, exciting-all of the words you would use to express a big moment in your life. We packed 200 cupcakes (lemon raspberry, snackerdoodle and chocolate peanut butter crumble), and many of our family laughed at us. How were we going to sell THAT many cupcakes? Especially to people who didn't know us or our product. We are happy to say we sold that many in less than an hour. That first market day was a life changer. It was the first real time we fully believed in what we were doing and understood what we were about to venture into.

The first market season helped us build our customer base (or friends as we really like to call you!) It also proved that we needed an actual commercial kitchen so we could sell outside of the farmers market. We were able to find one fairly quickly to use so we could fulfill orders. Within less than a year of starting at the market we jumped into a small brick and mortar store where we shared space with other businesses. Flash forward to July of last year and we now have our own shop. One that provides plenty of space for families to come in and enjoy MLC.

We are so excited to start our 4th farmers market this year. Many people have asked if we are coming back to the market-of course we are. It's where we started and it's where many of our friends are. We've become close with many of the vendors, and also many of the market-goers. We may not always know your name, but we know your favorite cupcakes, your kids, your dog, how your week was, tragedies that have occurred, your favorite baseball team and more. We hope you always find that friendship within us. As we always say-MLC wouldn't be possible without YOU.

*Find us in the trailer THIS Sunday (May 21st) from 10-2pm at the Bridgeport Farmers Market.