Where in I share where 84th & 3rd is heading…[or aka it’s my blog and I’ll ramble if I want to]
Well, I started the site because every company needs a website these days. And this blog has, till this point, really been the only element of activity seen by most of the outside world [outside world defined by the 9 or so people that look at it from time to time, Hi Mom]. For me, that is ok as there is a flurry of other stuff in the background keeping me more than busy. But I figured that it may be time to let you in on a bit of it. The About page still stands as the [initial] end goal…this is how we are getting there.
@The Pantry – As I explain it to people these days ‘We are creating a wide selection of gourmet packaged mixes for CupCakes, Cookies, Muffins and Desserts. You can just add eggs, butter and water – without all the chemicals that are in most grocery store brands – and have a gorgeous homemade treat in the oven in minutes.’
This is where the majority of my time is spent right now. And far-out there is alot to do. There is no love [or love lost] here for distributor reps – well most of them anyway. I think they must go to the same school as Real-estate Agents and Car Salesmen. One challenge of a start-up is needing reasonably small amounts of product and packaging – and needing it to be cost effective. This translates for us into finding off the shelf packaging that is as close as possible to appropriate – and not in China or America-land. You know the Edvard Munch painting ‘The Scream’, yep, that about explains it. But we do have boxes, finally! And will very soon have bags [to put the dry mixes in before they go in the boxes]. I am labeling the packaging for now [until we need enough to justify printing boxes] and have had the basic design since about the 2nd day I started this – now I just need to decide if I am going to dive back into Adobe [um, after essentially a 10 year hiatus] or find a finished artist to set it all correctly, and then it is off to print. The other day I was up to my eyeballs in Food Standards Codes and Nutrition Panels – inspiring stuff [kill me now].
Somehow, although the people I know could all join together to run a nation – from police to healthcare to immigration to courts to teachers to builders and more – and advertise anything to the people living there, I know no-one in retail or the food trade [argh], so flying a bit blind, but generally in a straight-ish line, I think.
But what goes into all this lovely packaging I hear you saying….That is where the recipe testing comes in. Lots of baking, in summer, on a diet [healthy eating not weight loss, although that is an added benefit] that cuts out sugar, white flour and butter amongst other things. The diet is a good thing since it means I have a just little piece of whatever comes out of the oven and give the rest away, rather than eating 2 [or 5] cupcakes myself. RJ is still not entirely happy that we don’t keep it all. A few things have been finalised, a few are close and a couple are still in the works. The full list will be up shortly, and an @ThePantry page will finally make it’s appearance on the site.
A bit of a taste of some of the recent items…..
Now if you are still reading [must be a slow day at work, or a late night with the baby] you may be wondering where exactly it all goes to once it’s baked. I can’t bear to throw good food out, and luckily, most of the recipes are turning out wonderfully with only a couple batches of anything binned [interestingly VanillaBean CupCakes were my nemesis for a bit, FudgeBrownies were perfect after the 2nd go so there is no excuse to continue testing them, unfortunately]. Most things accompany us to various events……but how can you get your hands on FREE CAKE if you haven’t invited us to a BBQ or dinner?
For starters you have to be in Sydney [sorry kids]. Then you need to keep an eye on the Facebook page feed [give it a ‘like’ if you haven’t already]. I’ll be posting what is coming up and it is a ‘first in best dressed’. The catch, pickup from the Neutral Bay area and do a short feedback survey…..but it’s FREE CAKE!
More later on @LittleOnes but I think that is enough for now.
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