How a Family Illness led to a Rising Business – Jenny Mae’s Gluten Free Story

At the final gathering of the Entrepreneur Spotlight series, we learned the story of how Jenny Mae’s Gluten Free Bakery began.  Jenny Simmons shared with us a heartfelt story of how her five year old son became very ill.  After months of searching for the cause and many doctor appointments to not much avail, she had seen a television program on Celiac Disease and how a gluten allergy (anything with wheat, barley, rye and oats) can cause many of the same symptoms her son was experiencing.  She and the family started going gluten, dairy and soy free and saw results right away.

They tried many store brand products and in the meantime, Jenny began experimenting with recipes to try and come up with something flavorful that her family would eat.  Simmons notes, “After a lot of trial and error and a lot of bread crumbs”, she made some bread that had her family asking for more.  She began baking for friends and family with three pans and a mixer.  Jenny had previously been telecommuting for a marketing firm out of Bellevue and her home operation grew too large.  A friend was determined that Jenny would succeed as a Gluten Free Bakery and sought out a location and urged her to take the plunge, which she did, opening in 2009.

Jenny Mae’s Gluten Free Bakery is also an allergen-free shop, which serves the needs of vegans and people with allergies to milk, soy, eggs, nuts, in addition to gluten.  Simmons told the crowd she gets four-five new customers a day and is, “part counselor, part baker”.  Many people come in just newly diagnosed with a gluten allergy or Celiac Disease and Jenny will take the time to talk with them and share her story.

The bakery has expanded beyond bread.  She offers cupcakes, doughnuts, pies, mixes and cookie dough.  Right now it is a two person operation with Jenny and her mother; Jenny’s husband Jeff is also involved with the business expansion efforts.  Jenny mentioned that one of the biggest challenges with starting a new business is managing capital and cash flow.  The bakery is now faced with the dilemma that they have more demand than production capacity and they can’t grow and take on more customers without taking on debt by moving to a bigger location.  Because of this and lack of a formal distribution process, they have not expanded their internet presence.  Currently they have customers from all over the northwest, regularly traveling from Boise, Utah, Seattle and Portland.

The Simmons are taking a cautious approach to growth; they have increased production five-fold since starting the bakery and are still faced with the challenge of keeping up with demand. Jenny adds that the gluten-free market is taking off; there are customers interested that have to change their diet for health reasons, others that make the decision to go gluten-free for the ‘natural’ aspects of the product and there are still customers that think it is trendy.

“Make sure you do your due diligence investigating as many areas that you can think of which have an influence on your new business, like market research, licensing, location, capital, accounting, legal, permitting, etc.  Ask a lot of questions and use the resources available”,  offers Jenny.  “Secondly, once you’ve done your research and it still seems like a good idea, don’t be afraid to ‘take the leap’ and start your business.”  One final thing that Jenny said that is so important for entrepreneurs to remember is to balance work and life and also be sure to have fun while doing it!

Jenny Mae’s was the runner up in the first Enterprise Challenge Business Plan Competition and we are very excited to see the business take off and looking forward to hearing more about their expansion plans.

Jenny Mae’s Gluten Free Bakery is located at 8308 Ahtanum Road, Yakima WA 98903.  509-833-5096.  Hours are: Mon & Tues 9 to 5, Wed & Thurs 9 to 2:30, Friday 9 to 5 and Saturday 10 to 1.  Closed Sunday.

 

Three Hints for Developing a Business Message

I attended a luncheon the other day and the keynote speaker was Stephanie Pierole, Director of Strategic Partnerships for the Wexley School of Girls.  If you are not familiar with them, Wexley is neither a school, or just for girls; it is a full service advertising agency in Seattle that has big name clients such as the Seattle Sounders, the Seahawks, Car Toys, Oberto and many other national brands, to name a few.

Ms. Pierole was in Yakima to give some insight into making customers fans, and not the Facebook kind.  She was referring to fans, as fanatics, or advocates for your brand.  She gave the example that she has a new Ford and LOVES the car so much, she uses every chance she gets to tell others about how great it is.  That kind of fan.  Exactly what a start-up company wants and needs.

She gave three great hints as to what a brand should be.  Not just a slogan, although that could be part of it, think ‘Just Do It’. She suggests that a brand should be:

1.  Simple.  Make it easy to understand and simple in delivery.  Some businesses try to be so unique to stand out from the crowd, that it can actually confuse the issue.  For example, if you are a women’s upscale spa and your message is something about ‘escape from reality’; it might imply that you have a travel-related busine.

2.  Repeatable.  If you are developing a slogan or tagline for your business, it should be easy to remember so people will repeat it.  In reference to the Seattle Sounders, Wexley came up with ‘Give us your full 90′.  It’s easy to remember, definitely applicable to soccer fans and repeatable.

3.  Pride.  A slogan or brand should instill a sense of pride and ownership.  Pierone offers that it should have a positive message to garner that pride.  For example, Yakima’s own Liberty Bottleworks is proud that they are the only U.S. Manufacturer of recycled aluminium water bottles.  A Liberty customer takes pride in using a Made in the USA, BPA-Free, environmentally responsible product.

Peirole also gave some insight into how they developed the marketing plan for the Sounders.  They first went to a loyal group of existing Sounders’ fans and asked them what they wanted.  It was the perfect focus group – these followers were engaged, interested and genuinely wanted the Sounders to succeed.  It was this group that came up with the idea to have scarves, and for fans to give it their all as much as the players.  Scarves Up!

These three suggestions are excellent if you are just starting out and trying to come up with a catchy message.  However the bigger message is that you want your product and message to relate to your customers so they will become regular, life-long customers who buy your product and encourage others to do so as well.

2011 Enterprise Challenge Business Plan Contest Kicks Off

Let the contest begin!  We are excited to kick off the 2nd Annual Enterprise Challenge;  a business plan competition to identify the best and brightest new local businesses and entrepreneurs.  The Enterprise Challenge is tailored to and targeted at start-up companies and Yakima County entrepreneurs with limited independent business experience.  If participants have formed a business, it must be less than two years old.

The Top Prize is $10,000; 2nd Place $5,000 and 3rd Place $2,500.

Contest activities will include:

• Educational Workshops
• Business Plan Assistance
• Mentoring & Coaching
• Networking Opportunities

There are some minor changes to this year’s contest based on feedback from last year’s participants.  We are kicking off a little earlier this year to allow additional time for contestants to develop their full business plans and we have also added in some additional ‘contestant-only’ workshops.  Finally, previous Enterprise Challenge cash prize winners are not eligible to compete.

Contestants will work on their business plans and advance as the contest progresses; the top eight finalists will turn in a full business plan and make an oral presentation. More details:

• The opening round begins with participants submitting a five page business plan summary, which will be narrowed to a field of approximately 16.
• The top 16 contestants will then take part in an afternoon Investment Round Trade Show Event where they will pitch their idea to a host of community judges.
• From the Investment Round, the field will narrow to eight.  These top eight finalists are treated to a one-day road trip to the Northwest Entrepreneur Network’s Entrepreneur University.  (the registration alone is $99 for this, not including travel).  The trip last year was the top ranked activity of the entire contest by the finalists.  One of the finalists met a potential investor and made some sales connections, in addition to hearing well known venture capitalists speak, and attend sessions on marketing, SEO and more.
• The top eight finalists will each have the opportunity to be matched with a ‘coach’ that will review their full written business plan and provide input in the Coaching Round.  Each finalist will then submit a full written business plan and make a ten minute oral presentation to a new panel of judges.
• The top winners will be announced at the Awards Banquet on December 9th.

New Vision will use a variety of judges throughout the several stages of the contest to evaluate participant’s ideas and plans.  Judges are a diverse group of entrepreneurs, business owners, service providers and community leaders from throughout Yakima County.  Judges will use factors such as innovation, relevant expertise, competitive advantage and market opportunity to select contest winners (and participants that will advance further in the competition).

Registration is now open and posters are being distributed this week.  Check out the schedule page for exact dates and ‘contestant only’ activities.  You can also download the brochure, give us a call at 575.1140 or email newvision@ycda.com for more information.