Angie Colee (00:02):
Welcome to permission to kick a podcast about leaving self-doubt in the dust. Punching fear in the face and taking bold action toward your biggest dreams. I'm Angie Colee. Let's get to it. Hello and welcome to permission to kick. I am super, super stoked for today's guest. Please. Welcome to the show everybody. My mom, Mrs. Mary. Hi mom.
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (00:29):
Hey!
Angie Colee (00:33):
I've been trying to get you on the show as like for as long as the show has existed, which is not very long right now, but I'm super excited that we got you on. We figured out all of our tech issues. I know like the internet went out yesterday when we were trying to record and it was almost like planes, trains, and automobiles, just trying to get this together, but I really wanted to have you on the show because I don't know if I've ever articulated this to you. So if I haven't my bad, but here you get to hear it as, as the world gets to hear it. Uh, you've been my hero and my model for entrepreneurship. And I think that's because I've watched you over the years, try a business, try a business, learn a lesson, pivot, adjust, and just keep going, despite all the setbacks, despite all the odds. And that's exactly why I wanted to create a show is to help people like you and me that have we've tried and we might be missing something or we've tried. And it wasn't quite the right fit for what we wanted to do, but we kept going anyway. And that's, I mean, you're the inspiration for my show, so I love you.
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (01:35):
Aw, well, thank you. I love you too.
Angie Colee (01:41):
So what I love is that after, after all this time of trying to figure out where you belong, where you were happiest in business, you have come to a place that makes you genuinely, like I see you light up whatever you talk about your business now. So you want to tell everybody a little bit about what you're doing.
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (01:58):
Okay. Well, I, my business is called rum cakes and sweet bakes. And what it is is there's well, we specialize in rum cakes, liquor cakes, and that kind of thing. And then just recently, thanks to a friend of Angie's. We started adding half pound cookies in different flavors.
Angie Colee (02:22):
Oh, I love those things. They're as big as my face!
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (02:26):
But it didn't, it didn't start out that way. I mean, we've been doing this for three years now, a little over, maybe about three and a half years, and it's starting to really kind of grow and take off, but there's been so many years back that I've tried different things. I knew that it always was going to be in the baking industry as a, as a pastry chef. I had gone to school, um, learned the basics of all of that type of thing, because I've always loved to bake. So I knew that there was a business out there, but there are so many businesses out there that are related to that. You've got the cakers as they call themselves the, they make cupcakes and fancy wedding cakes and fancy decorated cakes. And I just don't do that kind of stuff. And then I thought about doing, Oh, well, we'll just do some old fashioned home-baked desserts and stuff like that.
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (03:22):
And it just like, it just didn't feel right. So my husband and I had gone on a cruise several years ago. And of course, when you go on a cruise, everybody always says, make sure you go get the rum cakes, you know, they're awesome. Go get the rum cake. So we did, we bought a bunch of rum cakes, brought them home and sat down and then, you know, I ate one and was like, well, I wasn't that impressed. And I didn't know what the fuss was about. So I tell my husband, you know what, I bet I could do better than this. Um, I mean, it wasn't bad. I'm not knocking the rum cakes over there, but, um, it was a little dry to me, the flavor wasn't really there. And I just thought, yeah, maybe I can try it and do it better. So I did, I started experimenting with generally looking up rum cake recipes and seeing how they're done.
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (04:16):
And then I just went about making some and just some general flavors and kind of got it to where I thought it tasted good. We liked it. And we did our first, uh, I guess you'd call it, uh, an event, a fair, uh, that was a Halloween festival type thing that was local. And I was scared to death to get out there and, and go, I thought nobody's going to buy anything. And lo and behold, it really went over. Well, it was very popular. So after getting that first one under our belt, it was like, okay, so now we gotta find another one. And then I started expanding on flavors. I started getting a little bit more comfortable with the idea. We, uh, did the, the big fair that our city has, uh, several times. And we would get people that would come and say, wow, I'm so glad you're here.
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (05:13):
Uh, I really wanted to get some of your stuff, you know, Hey, I live in this other town. Would you call the chamber and see about joining their fair that they have? And, and, um, so it just started to progress pretty well. And as I started coming up with better flavors and our variety of flavors, and then experimenting with different types of, of events that we went to, of course, those got more comfortable as we went along, but I would start getting, you know, people that would be like, gosh, this is, this is so good. And, and, um, we would definitely have the people who would say, you know, I don't like rum cakes. Um, when, once we decided to start giving out samples of our product, then we realized that more people, we got more of our sales that way, because we would have people that would say, I don't like rum cake.
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (06:09):
Well here, just try this. You don't have to buy it, just try it. Or they would say, you know, I had a lady one time that actually told me nobody makes a better room cake than I do. I make them really, really good. And I'm like, that's great because you know, there's so many different kinds out there, but Hey, what'd you try mine and let me know what you think. And she did. She tried it and she says, you know what? I've never told him the first time I've ever said this, but yours is better than mine. So, you know, that actually just kinda, it, it boosts your ego. Definitely. And it wants it. It makes you want to keep going. And one of our events that we tried, one time was a, a winery, a local winery that had an artisan market. And we didn't do that.
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (06:56):
Well, we didn't do bad, but we didn't do that well, but we didn't have a lot of traffic in the room that they put us in. So I wasn't really interested in going back. Um, I decided, well, it wasn't that great. Let's, let's try other areas and other markets and other fairs. And I kept thinking about the winery though, over the months. And I think it was about a year later, I decided I'm going to go ahead and give them another try. So we gave them another try. They, uh, had us in a, another indoor area. They were not using the area that we were in originally. So they didn't even use that room at all. So when we got in there this time, it was totally different. We had the traffic there. We had the people there when we had, um, I think we practically sold out and it was just such a phenomenal experience.
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (07:49):
We decided to come back because they do this every month. So we started signing up every month. And I mean, our best sales have been at a winery of all places. And it's grown from there. You know, when COVID hit last year, we were ready to do their March market. And then it all got canceled. So for months and months and months, you know, we couldn't do anything. Then in October they started it back up. And when we went, it was, I mean, we just, we hit the door run and people were coming back, wanting it, loving the product. Yeah. I'm so glad you're here. I'm so glad you're back. I'm so glad y'all made it, you know, so we're hearing these positive things and that's what keeps us going after, after the years. But it's definitely a trial and error type thing. You've got to find that niche that not everybody else is doing. And that's, that's where I wanted to get in there. It's like, I don't want to, I don't want to do all the wedding cakes and all that fancy stuff. I just don't have the patience for that. But we found a niche that people do.
Angie Colee (08:56):
Like, yeah, I've always loved that about you was like, I remember growing up, you know, before the age of the internet, always going through, you had these, these cookbooks and these baking books. And I would look at all these pretty cakes, but like you've known from the outset that you didn't want to do the fancy cakes that take like hours of design work. And sometimes don't even taste all that good for all the effort that have gone into making them look that good. You've always been about the flavor and the taste. And those does this have the right taste? Does this have the right texture? And like, even I was home over the holidays for context, holidays of 2020, and you were trying to make an orange flavor and tried like three different batches and combinations of like base cake. Was it, was it a yellow cake? Should it be an orange cake?
Angie Colee (09:38):
Should I try this liquor? Should I try that liquor? Oh my God, I must've gained like 10 pounds just trying different cakes, but the care that you put into making sure the flavor is there, I think is, is probably the secret to the success and the traction you've had so far along with. Um, and this is the key that I want to make for everybody listening, putting yourself out there, despite the fear, which I think is important. Like you were terrified of that first event and you went anyway, you had one bad event at the winery and could have used that as an indicator that like, this place sucks. We shouldn't go back. We'll never have this again, but you gave it another try and then continued to show up. And then you developed this word of mouth following of people that just, they can't wait for you to show up there.
Angie Colee (10:19):
I went to a couple of events with you and my stepdad, who I'm going to circle back to in a minute. 'Cause I love his goal. And your business went there with you and Bob a couple of times and saw people just swarming your booth. And they were, there were signing up for six packs and wanting to get all the different flavors and buying gifts for other people. And it was just so fun to watch you in your element. Um, the thing about Bob that I love is he's such a natural salesman and he's so supportive of you in your efforts to grow this business. And I, I keep teasing him that he's like a natural marketer too, cause we've all heard of the taste test, right. You know, the sample which sells all these rum cakes. And then Bob's always joking about the face test. He will get a crowd going at this booth and tell them all, watch this person's face as they try the sample. Just, I'm not going to tell you anything else, just watch their face. Yes. And then people will all want to try their own samples and they'll try a whole bunch of different samples and wind up buying multiple rum cakes just from Bob making a big deal.
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (11:24):
Yes, yes. That was his, his little deal. And he sticks with it all the time. And I, you know, I think he gets more nervous about doing these events than I do. Um, to calm him down. He is, he is, I have to calm him down a lot when we go and uh, we're setting up and, you know, things just aren't perfect for him and you know, and he's just my helper, you know, he's got a full-time job. So, and this isn't it, but, um, but he loves helping me and doing it and he gets all, uh, he gets all wrapped up in it, you know, quite a bit. And um, since things picked back up in October, I mean, it's been phenomenal. I had a lady who apparently lived in another city, but she was at the winery the weekend when we were there and she gave me a call and wanted to know, do you have a website? I want to order some, get, you know, online. I would like to order gifts for people for Christmas. And it turned out she's a doctor. She was ordering packs of rum cakes and having them shipped to different medical facilities that she worked with. And I mean, it was, I think I got a lot of my sales in December from her alone and she told me, you know, everybody has loved your stuff and you'll definitely be on my list of places. I'll be using you again. So those are such positive things to keep me going.
Angie Colee (12:49):
I remember staying. So I was staying in an Airbnb for the hall right before the holidays. And I asked my hosts because they're super cool people to come out to one of the festivals that you did at the winery. And these are open air festivals. That you're at, it was so nice. Like you said, COVID times everybody was antsy to just like get outside. Um, and, and so they came to the booth, they tried a couple different flavors. And I remember their reaction to one flavor that you have that has sold like crazy, which is French toast, maple bacon.
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (13:24):
Yeah. that's a best seller
Angie Colee (13:26):
Lady was like, I don't know how I'm going to react to this. And then she tried one and was like, Oh my God. And then tried a whole bunch of other flavors. And they wound up buying a six pack and then they wound up buying like gifts for a party. And then some, for them to enjoy over the time and just, I love how this spreads organically. When people find something they love, you know, they had a barbecue they held later where they had rum cakes. I literally saw guests shoving your, they're wrapped of course, but they were shoving your rum cakes whole into their pockets to take home, which I love.
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (14:00):
And it's funny because you know, a flavor like that one came about because we did do a, um, an event that our city put on. It was the first time that they'd ever put it on. It was called the bake and then brew event. So we had to come up with something that had either bacon or beer in it. And I was like, well, I don't want to, I don't really have anything. You know, I don't think a beer cake would be all that great. Although I'm sure there's some out there, but I was more leaning towards the bacon. So I just started going through different recipes that use bacon. And I thought, well, maybe a French toast type thing. And then we were able to develop this cake that had, that was a French toast, maple bacon, and people say, Oh my God, it's real bacon.
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (14:47):
And oh my gosh, that tastes like a real French with bacon in it. You know, you've got the maple syrup in it. And at first it was not an alcoholic cake. We did not put any kind of whiskey or anything like that in it. And then we decided I have had several people say, why not? Why don't you put some, put some rum in it, put something whiskey in it, but, but you know, you need to have them all liquor cakes. So we decided to go ahead and give it a shot. And we did put some liquor in it. And I mean, it, it sells well. I mean, that's one of our top sellers. So it, it turned out to be something that was just for an event that we did that sold so well, that it just became a major staple in our menu.
Angie Colee (15:32):
I love this because it plays into the niching down with things. So well, right. You know, you have rum cakes, run cakes are what you do, but you also have to come up with something bacon or beer, like you said. And I think this is where a lot of creative people get stuck because they think that constraints are something to be feared and actually being a creative person constraints make you come up with something really, really awesome. More often than not like when the sky is the limit and you could bake anything and everything, that's almost paralyzing. It's like too many options, but now you are forced to think of a combination, of a creative combination, rum cake and bacon. Where do I go with this? And that wound up being one of your best sellers, because you had these constraints placed on you. But do you even think that you would have come up with that on your own if you hadn't been part of this themed festival?
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (16:24):
Oh, no, absolutely not. That was the farthest thing from my mind, I was just making your basic, uh, vanilla butter, you know, and your chocolate and your, you know, limit a few flavors. But I would have never in a million years thought, Oh, let me come up with a French toast, maple bacon cake. It was just that, that's what the theme was. And it intrigued me. And I thought, I bet I could do that. So after a few tries, we did come up with the perfect cake. I mean, it's, it's got to be the perfect cake. Now. They all taste the same to me. I will be honest with you. I have to pass things around when I come up with them and have other people try them because I can't taste a difference in them anymore. Uh, you know, I've tasted them so many times, but I have plenty of willing, um, test subjects that are, that are more than happy to take what I make and try it out and tell me what they think it needs or it doesn't need or whatever. So we do come up with a, a really good flavor usually because I do have outside people testing it for me.
Angie Colee (17:37):
Oh yeah. I remember trying all those different flavors of orange cake and being like, Oh, this one, I'm not a fan of this one. I liked this one. I think you should do this recipe. And like trying a whole bunch of different combinations before you came up with the right one. Um, and I love, I love being part of the test audience. I have to say,
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (17:55):
Taking your sister's advice. We had, I toned that we did take the one that we had picked and, um, and it's a grand Marnier cake by the way. And she said it was a little orangy. So I, all I did was take the one that we all picked, but we cut back on the orange a little bit and I've made them and we have, um, we're going to Boerne Texas tomorrow for their Boerne market days over the, this Valentine's day weekend when it's going to be cold as hell out and possibly icy and snowy. And they said, the show goes on regardless. So we'll be there with propane heater, our new grand Marnier and, um, several types of the half pound cookies that we came up with a snicker doodle.
Angie Colee (18:49):
And you came up with a snicker doodle after I left. Oh my God.
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (18:51):
Yes. Snicker doodle the birthday cake, even at m&ms the m&ms cookie and they're all half pound cookies. So hopefully it will be a good market. We do already know that because of the weather. I know that that affects people sometimes and them getting out, but even if we do okay, and not as well as we would like doing okay, tells me that when the weather's really nice out there, it's going to be worth going back to, because with gorgeous weather, the people will be out in droves. So I'm not going to let the weather this weekend, bring me down at all about, you know, how well we do. We hope we do really, really well, but even if we just do okay, I think that means that we'll do even better once spring comes and the weather is nice.
Angie Colee (19:45):
And I really love how that has shifted your perspective a little bit, because you mentioned, you know, the first time you went to the winery and not having the traffic and it was a whole year before you decided to go back and give it a try. And I think that's common to entrepreneurs. Like we try something, it didn't turn out quite like we expected. We take that as a sign that, you know, maybe this, this step isn't right. Or this path isn't right. Sometimes it's timing. Sometimes it's like at the winery, it's the way it was set up that had nothing to do with you. It was just that people weren't seeing you were there once they saw you were there. Woo. Everybody loves this. Um, I think that's fantastic. And, and hearing how that changed your perspective into this one, going, okay, well, we already, we're going into this committed, knowing that we have a certain set of factors working against us, but, um, I'm looking for signs that this is something that we should come back to. I think that's such a vital and needed mindset when trying to start or grow your business.
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (20:44):
Absolutely. I mean, we are we're regulars there now. So they have already sent the schedule out through may. They're doing two artists markets a month with the exception of, I think, April and where we're signed up for every one of them. And they've also allowed us, we did talk to them because they do Sunday night concerts. Now they don't have vendors there. They have one food truck and this food truck we've become very good friends with the owners of the food truck. And because they've, they've eaten our stuff and we've eaten theirs. And, um, so we talked one time about, uh, talking to the winery and asking them if they would let us come up there because the food truck doesn't sell desserts, they don't sell anything sweet. And they have people ask for that. So they did let us come on a trial basis last fall.
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (21:36):
Um, uh, there was probably three or four before it ended for the season of their concerts. And, uh, we went and it turned out very well. And the last concert, the owner's nephew, I believe who takes care of having people there. And a lot of the details had told us, you know, we get a lot of really good, um, words about y'all and good comments and people like having y'all here. So, you know, we would love for y'all to come back again. So that'll be a regular Sunday night thing for us when they start the music concerts again. Um, so we'll be there twice a month on Saturdays and we'll be there every Sunday. So it's, it's been good and it's, and it's made us feel really good to develop regular places to go where people know that we're going to be there and they like having us there.
Angie Colee (22:26):
And I've met those people. It's Mary Jane's truck, right? Um,
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (22:30):
Yes, Mary Jane and her and her hubby. Uh, Ricky, I think it's Ricky, Ricky,
Angie Colee (22:36):
And they, Oh God, they have such a delicious, like deep fried fatty food. Uh, and what I love about the relationship that you guys have developed is that like this wasn't part of your master plan. No, you didn't sit down when you planned out your business and tried this, that I'm going to make friends and they're going to help me expand this way. Like, this is just a natural part of taking forward steps, meeting people, starting to get connections to other outlets where you could potentially do business and just, you know, it's, it's taking forward steps and not necessarily knowing where they're going to wind up, but just trusting that it's going to wind up somewhere. So I love the fact that whenever they find a new place to go, they pretty much call you and say, Hey, we're going here.
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (23:20):
Well, exactly. You know, they told us about, I believe it was at the end of October, there was a, a small town called Anderson, Texas. If anybody's familiar with that, they do a Anderson Fest and they had country music, a couple of big names, country music, people there. And they had music all night and they had all kinds of things going on with vendors and, and, uh, you know, shopping could buy stuff. And this went on from, I think it was about two o'clock in the afternoon till 10 o'clock at night. So it was an all day affair. The whole town was shut down for this and they told us about it. And they said, why don't you get in touch with this guy? And see if you guys can, can join. So we did, we called and we got in, they said they still had room, not a problem. And we asked them if they would put us close to Mary Jane struck. So he was somebody we knew and we did, we were right across from them. And we had quite a crowd. Um, believe it or not being a large festival like this, we still did better at the small winery, but we did good at the, at the festival too. So, so it was quite an experience and we enjoyed doing it. It was definitely worth our time.
Angie Colee (24:37):
And that's cool too, because I'm glad that you brought up the, the sales at the big place where you might naturally expect to do better. It's a longer festival. It's a bigger festival, but you actually did better at the smaller place with the more intimate group of people, the regulars. I think that's a good thing to bring up for, especially people new to business. Cause like have, have your assumptions, have your theories, have your, your hypothesis. If you want to get scientific and talk about testing this, but know that once you, once the rubber meets the road, once you're actually in it, things may turn out differently than what you expected. So I think like going into all of these in a, okay, well, I want to try it and let's see what happens is like the perfect mindset and attitude to take.
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (25:27):
Absolutely. We've discovered that bigger's not always better. So just because it's a huge festival doesn't mean that we're going to sell out of everything. We have sold out of everything, just being at the winery and you know, wineries, aren't huge. But, and especially now when they limit, there are people that are there. We have still sold out there and we've never sold out at a huge festival. So, you know, we do like the smaller places, or I think people do get to know you better for us. That's worked out better. Um, because then we have a following, a small following at the big festivals you have, I guess you would say anonymous people there, people that you don't know, they probably come from all over. Um, they, they do your, they do eat your product and buy your product and they like it. And that's great, but you never hear from them again, you know, we had guys in the band, one of the bands that was playing came over and got some of our cakes and they really liked them.
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (26:27):
But you know, that's, as far as it goes, I think it's a, I wouldn't call it a one-time thing, but it's a, uh, it's an in the moment type thing. Whereas at the winery you have the regular people that go there all the time and they get to know you, and then you have new that come and go, Oh, I've never been here. And, Oh, I've never tried that. And Oh, let me, you know, we tell them, Hey, you know, we have samples, we give samples to everybody because I want you to like what you buy. So that became a big thing in the beginning. We didn't offer any samples. And so people were buying things and you know, they liked it and it was all okay. But I think once we decided, you know, we're going to start letting people to try this stuff and see how it goes over.
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (27:13):
Um, that was a huge game changer for us. Um, people started, you know, when, when you have the people that come by, like I said before, they'd go, Oh, I don't like rum cake. I've had it. I don't like it. We'll just try this. This is different. Try it. And they do. We turn them into seller. I know our buyers rather, we turn them into buyers. And, um, so, you know, like we went to Galveston at one time when you came out there and you know, we have people that are coming off the ships. And of course, you know, when you go on the cruise, you're going out there to buy the rum cakes. And we had them coming and buying our rum cakes and taking them to their hotel rooms.
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (27:52):
So, um, and, and now with the website and everything, we can get out there a little bit more and we tell people, you know, just jump on there and it's got everything that we sell. So if you have any questions, you give us a holler and not a problem. So it's, it's been a really, really good experience. That's gradually grown in the three years. I'm just glad I finally found the niche that was worth doing and, and pursuing, and then just keeping it up because the festivals are fun. Going to these events are fun. Now I'm not one who likes to get in a crowd of people. Um, as I've gotten older, you know, I just don't like getting in crowds of people, but this is different when you're out there doing something like this. And you're meeting people that, um, really stand there and chit chat with you and talk to you about not only your product, but other things too. And it's, it's a great experience, you know, it's just enough interaction with people to, to make it all worth it.
Angie Colee (28:58):
Yeah. Well, and I think there's, there's another couple things that just came up for me while we were talking that there, there are things that I think that you've done instinctively, and I think you've done really smart. One was, you know, you found the rum cake niche and you've just slowly grown and expanded and keep reinvesting in that growth and trying new avenues and like just growing your fan base and getting people excited. And then the, the instinct that you had to develop different seasonal flavors, I think is a really smart marketing thing too. And, uh, you know, your daughter and the host of the podcast, being a marketer, we're going to have to talk about marketing campaigns on this one, 'cause I'll help you.
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (29:39):
Good deal. Not a problem.
Angie Colee (29:42):
I remember when I was there over the holidays, like two of your, your most popular ones besides the aforementioned, uh, French toast, maple bacon, were horchata, which is, you know, a Milky cinnamony rice drink, um, that's popular in, in Mexico and Latin American countries. And you made that into a rum cake flavor, and people were just like gushing over that. And then you had an eggnog flavor too that people were just naturally like, Oh my God, limited time, limited run flavor. I got to get some of this. And it's just, I think that's that natural. Like it amps up the urgency for people that want to try it, like, Oh my God, this flavor's going away. Or they keep their eye on you to see what flavor you're going to come out with next, or which flavor you're going to bring back that you haven't had in a while. So I love that.
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (30:29):
That's true. You know, and it was funny this past week I was playing with my oven 'cause I'm, I'm trying to figure this convection thing out. And so I had a box of coconut cake mix and I decided, okay, I'm just going to use that. And I'm going to try to figure out this oven and it's baking deals by, you know, baking it in the, the mini rum pans or the mini cake pans that I use. And so it was just an experiment. So what I did was I took the coconut, I added a chocolate pudding to it cause that's what I had on hand. And then I decided, I think I'll add some Irish cream to it. And so I did that, baked it. And then I was experimenting with, you know, the top rack, the bottom rack, see how they baked, how long it took, blah, blah, blah.
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (31:22):
So when they came out and they cooled, and then I let everything sit for 24 hours, um, let everything soak in the next day I had, I actually tried it and I was like, Oh, that's really good. And then my husband tried it and he said, that's really, really good. That's like a mounds bar. If you like the mounds candy bars, that's what this came out being. And so we're like, Ooh, might have to be a new flavor. We just got to come up with a name for it. You know, even, even your brother and his roommate came over and said, Oh my gosh, I am taking some of these cakes. So they took them. Huh. So it doesn't mean, I don't think so. Or maybe it was just Romeo, maybe it was just, the roommate came over and got some, but I know he came over and picked up two yesterday and then, and then Bob took the last one today to work.
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (32:17):
So, uh, so yeah, so it was just an accident by trying to experiment with something else that I came up with a flavor that's like, wow, that's, that's really kind of good. I, my dad, you know, maybe a little amaretto to it and Irish cream and, and call it something. I don't know what, but we'll call it something and it'll probably sell pretty good because it wasn't even good to me, I guess, because with the coconut flavor, it didn't, I wasn't just tasting something that had a good sweet rum glaze to it. I was tasting another flavor. And so, you know, of course, if I eat it enough, yeah. It'll all taste the same again, but it was really good. So it's fun coming up with different flavors.
Angie Colee (33:04):
Yeah, I think that's awesome. And then like, I love the tack that you take at these festivals where you have, as you have a sign out in front of your tent that you want to tell them what your sign says.
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (33:17):
I believe it's an Erma Bombeck quote that says seize the moment, remember all the women on the Titanic that waved off the dessert cart. And at the bottom of that, I put eat the rum cake. Yup.
Angie Colee (33:32):
I love that. Do you know? 'Cause like we, we can pile it on a little thick in the States, especially with the diet culture and the Oh no sweets are bad, but like I have yet to encounter a festival where people were like, no, no I'm on a diet. No, not like they, they try this rum cake and they want the thing and we're like, yep. See, you can take it. You could slice off a little bite here and then put the rest in the freezer and like nibble on it a little bit at a time. That's not being bad. That is indulging yourself, treating yourself well, people, I love it.
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (34:03):
Absolutely. I had even come up with a low carb rum cake. Um, I can't do it in the multitude of flavors, but I was able to come up with a vanilla butter, uh, low carb cake that for a large cake, it just had for the full size, I believe it was like five or I can't remember how many it was, but it was, it was, uh, it was less than eight net grams of carbs. And I haven't made any in a while. Those are a little bit more expensive and time consuming to make. So once we realized we were jumping back into the, the market event circuit, um, I didn't have the time to devote to that, but here and there, I probably will make them and throw them out there because they were really popular when we'd have them. People would go out a low, a low carb from cake, like yeah, because you know, your basic rum doesn't have any carbs in it. So you can actually use that with, with, and come up with a glaze and then the sugar substitute type thing and almond flour, coconut flour, and all of that. And it comes up with a good, low carb option for people who do want one.
Angie Colee (35:18):
I love this so much. I could talk to you all day about the rum cake business, but I'm just excited. We got you on the podcast to talk about this. So I think this is a great conversation. If you're up to it, I'd love to have a followup at some point in the future. And why don't you tell everybody where they can find out more information about you?
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (35:35):
Okay. All right. Well, our, our website is rum cakes and sweet bakes dot com all spelled out and on there, we do have an events page. So if you're local in the area of where we are, we do put on there where we're going to be and when we're going to be there. And then that way people can try what we have, or you can just order online if you've already had our stuff, or if you know that you would like it. Regardless.
Angie Colee (36:05):
My best friend did that over the holidays too. When they found out that you had a bunch of different flavors and that you were going to ship, they looked at the flavors and were like, no, I tried those baked goods in college when we were college roommates. And I already know that your mom's stuff is good. So I'm just going to order like a dozen different cakes.
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (36:26):
Yes, she did. I was like, Oh, order, order, order. That's nice. That's wonderful. So, yes. So we do try to keep up, like I said, on the event page, so we can tell everybody where we're going to be there when we're going to be there and, and how to get there. So then that way they can come by and just try it out.
Angie Colee (36:43):
All right. That was awesome. Yeah. If you're in central or Southeast Texas where you plan to be, or you're going to visit definitely check out my mom's site. I am totally, totally honestly, upfront biased, but they are delicious. So no, no shame there in plugging my mom so that there you have it. Another awesome episode of permission to kick. Thanks for being with us. And thank you for being with me.
Mary Philio (Angie's Mom!) (37:08):
Hey, well, thanks for having me, sweetie.
Angie Colee (37:13):
So that is it another awesome episode of permission to kick on the books. If you want to know more about the show, if you want to know more about me, Angie Colee and the mission I'm on to help entrepreneurs punch fear in the face and do big bold things, then head on over to permission to kick ass.com. That is all one word together, permission to kick ass.com, make sure to sign up for my email list so that, you know, whenever there's a hot, fresh and ready podcast episode out for you. And also on Mondays, I'd like to send out a little newsletter called kick Mondays as I'm sure you're totally, totally surprised by that. So thank you for being here with me today. I'm Angie Colee. Make sure that you share this with a friend that needs to hear this message today. Like it, share it, comment wherever you're listening to this today and let's go kick some ass.