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John's four more days until Valentine's Day, and in honor of the holiday, Baked by Melissa is highlighting the idea that opposites attract. The brand has teamed up with Tabasco and Cabot Creamery to curate an assortment of cupcakes that highlight the unique flavor pairings. Joining us now to discuss is Melissa Benischi, the CEO and founder of Baked by Melissa. Great to see you here, Thanks for joining us, Thanks for having me so tell us how Tabasco and cupcakes go together?
Well. I love bringing flavor pairings together that are maybe unexpected duos, especially for Valentine's Day, and what better than spicy and sweet? Just like a lot of people like I'm the sweet one, my husband is the spicy one. So for Valentine's Day, we thought it would be fun to collaborate with Sabasco and Cabot to bring some unexpected duos and bring flavors together that you would never expect work so well.
These are our limited offerings though it's not something you're going to introduce to the permanent collection.
Correct. They are available only right now. For Valentine's Day. You could go to Baked buy Melissa dot com, get them, ship them anywhere in the country, order for pickupper delivery in the New York area, and make your Valentine's very happy.
I'm glad you mentioned the different platforms that you can get the cupcakes at. Can you tell us a little bit about how you're thinking about distribution, whether it's Baked by Melissa dot Com versus the brick and mortar store in places like New York City versus other third party sellers. Sure?
So we see Baked by Melissa dot Com as our flagship store. You could go there to get your own cupcakes chipped to you or pick them up or like. That is our core business and we are still shipping for Valentine's Day, So if you're listening right now, take care of everyone you love. And then we also sell our cupcakes on Frush Direct and in some other places, but mostly our stores and on our website.
Okay, And you know you're kind of counting on people stopping by and being just so wowed by the flavors available that they were going to pick up not just one box, but maybe two boxes or three boxes as well. You know that impulsive purchase. One thing that we should mention is that you are a TikTok star. You show up every day, You've got new content coming out every day. And the thing that's interesting, of course, is that it's not just about dessert or cupcakes. It's much bigger than that.
It is. I actually I am an accidental TikTok star. I went on to TikTok as a way to learn how to use the app so I could give my team actionable feedback in twenty twenty during COVID, and in order to learn it, I started recording myself making dinner or dessert for my family because I do that every day too. And the videos just started taking off and I recognize every opportunity and create some myself. So I knew it was something that I couldn't pass up, and
I kept posting recipes. So I post a new recipe every single day on TikTok and on Instagram. And then there's also behind the scenes footage of me a baked by Melissa in the bakery making the cupcake footage. Yeah, it's such an awesome tool to share who I am. Who Baked by Melissa is as a brand, what we stand for and what we do every day.
So does that mean that you're going to bring some of what you've done on social media on TikTok to the Baked by Melissa Brand? I mean, could you expand beyond cupcakes and bring me in some of the goods that you make at home for your audience.
Anything is possible. So I do have a New York Times bestselling cokebook called Come Hungry, and it has so many of the recipes that I make on social media, and there may be more to come in the future. And I also share I have a sub sec and I share my recipes with that community as well.
So available on different platforms. I got to ask you about the cost of ingredients because we know that a dozen eggs is now really expensive. Cocoa prices have been going up and up over the last couple of years. You think about Valentine's Day and how expensive chocolate has become. How are you coping with that? How are you who buying the ingredients in advance to the extent that you can? Are you hedging any of these costs?
We do everything that we can, and we're constantly paying very close attention to our margins. We have adjusted pricing over the years. We've been in business for over sixteen years, and the quality of our product is my top priority. We make them small so you could try them all, you could ship them anywhere in the United States States, and they arrive perfectly fresh and safe. And so for now we are just we have a very close eye on our cost of goods.
After Valentine's Day, when is the next big holiday? What's the next big event for Baked by Melissa after Valentine?
Well, I personally am very excited for International Women's Month or sorry, Women's History Month, and then after that we have Mother's Day, which is a really big holiday for us at Baked by Melissa.
And how early do you start planning the venue or.
We're planning I we're planned out Christmas. We're planned out through the summer right now. But we have so many moments throughout the year. We celebrate birthdays. It's one of it is our single biggest holiday throughout the year. We do a ton of birthdays all year round. We have Easter, we have seen Patty's Day, cupcakes, you name it. And it's just so fun to be that bright light in
people's lives. During good times and bad and stressful times, and you know, in a time when you kind of can't believe reality a lot of the time.
Yeah, but you know we can all find comfort in a cupcake that brings you back to your childhood exactly. Melissa, thank you so much for joining us today.
Thanks appreciating.
Melissa Benischi is a CEO and founder of BIGD. By Melissa