A New Year, A New Menu

Happy New Year everyone!!  I hope you all had wonderful holidays.  I know I did!  I was able to take a quick 3 days off.  First vacation I have had since last year!  The funny thing is even though I was on vacation, I still was craving to be in the kitchen!  Don't get me wrong, I LOVED my time away with my family, but I found myself still creating new recipes and looking forward to putting together a new menu!

Over the years, I have done weekly new flavors so I have so many different cupcakes that I truly love.  It was really hard to pick the flavors I wanted to incorporate into the new menu design for Goodie Girls.  I sifted through almost a hundred recipes I had created to choose a select few to feature as weekly flavors in our stores.  But this doesn't mean you won't see any POP UPS along the way!  I can't help myself when it comes to experimenting!

When I opened the 2nd store in La Cañada Flintridge (LCF), I always wanted to change up the flavors on a daily basis.  However, I knew it would take a few months for us to get up and running and used to our new kitchen before we could.  Now, our girls are more than accustomed to the new kitchen we are even kicking out new items daily!  

My thought was to keep the classics as our everyday flavors.  I mean, who doesn't want our scrumptious Luv-a-Lot everyday?  Or our light yet indulgent Black & White?  So after that, I decided it was time to make the hard decisions...what is to stay permanently.  It was so hard to make Glitter Glide and Teddy on the rotating menu as those are such popular flavors (and my favs!), but in reality I really wanted to start expanding on our line of baked goods.  As most of you know, I am a chef at heart.  I cook everyday for my husband lunch and dinner so I have a hard time limiting myself to just cupcakes.  With that said, I decided to limit the flavors inside the store so we could really expand upon more delicious items such as Macarons, Bars, Cookies, Vegan & Gluten Free options and I even have created our very own Paleo Gluten Free Protein Bars!!  

Heres a look at the new menu:

I truly hope you all enjoy the changes in the rotating menu and I encourage you all to please stop in and try some of our new items!!  As always, I am open to suggestions and love feedback to make sure we give our fans the best possible product that we can!!!   What do you think?

Xoxo....Chef Annette

My life in Store #2 - Goodie Girls La Cañada Flintridge

Hey You Cupcake lovin' Fans

 I am back!!

I have been so busy opening my 2nd location "GGLC"

(FYI thats our abbreviation Goodie Girls La Cañada) 

You'll see it mentioned like that more often.
#GGLC on Instagram & Twitter

Goodie Girls La Cañada Store Front 

I worked so hard to get the store open that I've been a little behind on my Blog duties..  I've even done some painting work at GGLC work that I am so very proud of.

These days all of my spare time goes to running these two stores now (first one is in Glendale, CA) and balancing my family life.  

My hubby and I are just so excited have been able to open the doors to this second location!  It took a LOT of hard work, time, and trust me it wasn't all smiles during construction.  We saved up over the years from the 1st location, worked our butts off and spent every last penny of our savings to open store #2.  We are so thankful to everyone who has helped us make this possible.  Without our family, friends, and raving fans like you we couldn't have done this.  It was a collective effort which I am overwhelmed and so appreciative to have been able to experience in one step closer to my dreams.  I never in a million years thought this business accounting girl could be so lucky to having her own real bakery!!  I have put below some of our progress pictures during construction and of course the final picture of the store today.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I do... :)

Check out some of the progress Pics & follow our new Facebook Page:

   www.facebook.com/GoodieGirlsLaCanada

Thanks for following our progress up at GGLC.

Before/During Construction Pictures:

After Construction: 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes

I recently found this really cool app called Directr.  With this app, I have been able to start making really quick cute clips to share with all of you!  I have been addicted to this app now and so I am going to start posting the clips on my blog!!  So this morning...yes at 4am, we made this for you!!  I hope you enjoy these!  Here is a peek at us making our yummy weekly flavor Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup!  And don't forget to check back regularly as I will be posting tons more!  Happy Friday!

7,000 Cupcakes for Breeders' Cup

What event could possibly need close to 7,000 cupcakes?  BREEDERS’ CUP of course!! 

A couple of weeks ago we had the honor of being named the Official Cupcake for the Breeders’ Cup which came to Santa Anita Park this year for the 2012 Championships.  Now, if you are a huge fan of horse racing you know how big of an event this has become.  Over 90,000 fans came in from all over the world to watch these incredible horses race this year in 15 World Championships and over $25 million dollars in purses!  And nothing says a celebration like having an official Breeders’ Cupcake to finish! 

A few months ago, I decided to reach out to Santa Anita Park to ask them if they would be interested in having our creations at their track as we had won the Kentucky Derby episode of Cupcake Wars and the horse races were such an amazing experience for me I wanted to be involved!   They told me about this big race coming up and forwarded my info to the Breeders’ Cup.  Luckily I received a call the very next day from an executive of the Breeders’ Cup, Peter Rotondo.  Over the next couple of months, Peter and his associate Molly visited our store to not only pick flavors, but colors, and designs for the Official Cupcake.  Finally we had it!  This years Official Breeders’ Cupcake was going to be a Blueberry LemonDrop with a cute purple flower on top to not only represent the colors of the race but also the winning flowers! 

 

What’s next??  Little did I know or expect an email to come in one day with a full layout of the orders that were to be delivered and set up for “the week”!  I was absolutely in shock when I opened the attachment to find an order for close to 7,000 cupcakes!!!  But as many of you know, I can do it!  I will make anything possible and I will work my butt off to make it as seamless for our client as possible.  So I went into strategy mode.  I decided we would have to close our store for the week of Breeders’ Cup to make sure we took care of them the way this elegant horse race should be taken care of (and to keep me sane).  Our deliveries started at 4:45am and some days we would end at 10pm at night for the parties.   We got to be involved with every aspect of the Breeders’ Cup events and by the end of the week, everyone knew and had tasted these cupcakes. 

Here is a look at what we did over the week:

5 days of track deliveries for the Breakfast Marquee, Draw Reception Party, Jocktails, Deliveries to both hosting hotels at The Huntington Langham and Westin Pasadena daily, Winner’s Circle Party, Mayor’s Mansion Halloween Bash, NBC Trailer deliveries, BC Corporate Trailers deliveries, Taste of the World hosted by Bobby Flay and The Taste of LA at the track.

One of my favorite events had to be the Taste of the World at The Huntington Library hosted by Bobby Flay!  There were chefs that flew in from all over the world to present a signature dish to represent one of the horse’s countries and right next to them was the official sponsor Grey Goose mixologists to compliment each chef’s meal with a signature cocktail.  We had our cupcakes in the coffee and dessert corner.  I was able to meet some of my favorite chefs including Bobby Flay, Michael Voltaggio, and David Feau. 

Another perk of becoming the Official Cupcake was the PR aspect of things.  I was so grateful when I was called to do NBC Today in LA show at the anchor desk, KTLA, HRTV and another segment of NBC at the track as well as written up in Los Angeles Magazine and a few horse magazines.  I loved representing the Breeders’ Cup for all of these and it was such an honor they asked me to go live on TV for them.  You can watch the clip from NBC here:

Watch Chef Annette Starbuck on NBC Today in LA

Now that Breeders’ Cup is over, I feel a little sad to see it go, but I am so thankful for the opportunity it gave me along with some of the most amazing people I met from the BC Corporate people, the PR agencies, the media folks, all the way to the horse owners, jockeys, and fans!  All of you made us at Goodie Girls so happy and we hope to see you all again next year for Breeders’ Cup 2013!

I would like to take this time to thank HUGELY all of my staff who put in more than enough hours to completely cupcakes, going to the events, and making everything run so smooth for us (Rebecca, Margo, Giselle, and Danielle).  I would like to thank Peter Rotondo and Molly McGill of Breeders’ Cup for believing in us and selecting us to represent BC 2012.  I would like to thanks both PR agencies and Event Planning Companies Elise Freimuth from PMK BNC, Samantha Seier from Karlitz & Company, and Greg Ball from Brener Zwikel & Associates.  And last but definitely not least, my wonderful family who always lends a helping hand whenever needed – Anthony, Steph, and Dad – THANK YOU!  You all made this such an amazing time for me and I could not have done this without each and every one of you!

Here are a few more of my favorite pix from this week:

  

Behind the Scenes Live on KTLA

Happy Friday all you Sweet fans!

This past week we were so lucky to be asked to go Live on KTLA Morning News with Allie Mackay to talk a little about our business and how fortunate we have been to have an amazing kitchen such as the Chefs Center in Pasadena to be able to help what was once a small start up company to thrive in today’s economy without having the overhead of building out a kitchen and also giving us the opportunity to have a support team in place to start.  Unfortunately, when we scheduled the interview I didn’t realize I was actually going to be out on my 10^th year anniversary with my husband in Maui so I turned the interviews over to my Sweet Team Margo, Rebecca, and Stephanie and I was so thrilled and impressed with the girls screening!  They really captured Goodie Girls just as I would have!  If you missed the show, you can watch all 3 segments here:

If you are familiar at all with our store, most of you know we do not bake in house.  We go to our kitchen at Chefs Center at 4:30am, bake up a storm, and transport everything to our store by 10:30am to open our doors! 

Before I went on Cupcake Wars, I never knew Cupcakes were going to consume my life!  After we filmed the 1^st Cupcake Wars that we won, I knew this was what I wanted to do and I am the type of person who HAS to do what I love and give it my all.  So I started researching how I could make this all happen at a slower pace since I was still working a full time job.  I came across a couple different kitchens, but none of them compared to Chef’s Center across the board for me.  It’s conveniently located, not in the middle of a traffic bound area, it has a large open kitchen with the ability to have a private kitchen as well, it has rental storage space to keep all your goods there instead of transporting pans everyday, there are knowledgeable chefs on staff who can really help you learn the business side of things, and so much more.   The best part is you can rent it by the hour for $25/hr!!  So no monthly fees, no leases to sign, and yet you get an entire licensed kitchen to work from!   This was heaven.  So I started up at Chefs Center. 

My first few times I went were to do some charity work jobs I had gotten.  Then Larry from Chefs Center approached me and asked if we would like to be a part of their Friday Food Fairs.  At Chefs Center, they have these Food Fairs on Fridays that have rotating food trucks and then allow all the vendors who cook at the kitchen an opportunity to sell their products to the public.  This was amazing as it was the first time I would have a “store front” feel where I could set up my display how I would like and really see how people react to our cupcakes and also see how well they would sell.  And to be able to be a part of these trucks like the Grilled Cheese Truck, Slammin Sliders, and Coolhaus who have so many followers who could say no?  After the first Food Fair I was sold!  People were going crazy over our flavors and we kept getting asked “Where’s Your Storefront”?   I thought….storefront??  Oh yeah!  Lets do that!  Haha… so my husband and I without any hesitation went for it.  We lived in Glendale at the time and I was always in love with this building across the street.  I knew it was the PERFECT spot.  So one things led to another and within a week I had a store…well an empty shell, but I could see it all glammed up with pink and crystal chandeliers!  So for the next few months, we built the store out.  This is where Chefs Center REALLY helped me as well.  I decided to do a pre-packaged only store front and still continue to bake at Chefs Center.  This saved me thousands of start up dollars AND it was much less stressful to deal with all the permits and Health Department.  I chose to do it this way because I had never owned a food service store before and I really wanted to get a feel for what it would be like, test out recipes, get a marketing plan together, get my merchandise set, logo’s, test out what works as far as boxes and bags …. This was the perfect route to be able to really get a solid store running without having to feel in debt.  I also chose to have my store a little hidden as well to not have an overwhelmingly line outside my door (although always appreciated!!) immediately so I could get used to working a register, figure out how much product I would need daily so I wasn’t wasting or undercutting, etc. 

Now I am proud to say…we are opening store #2 in La Canada, Calif. In January 2013!!  This one IS in a shopping center and we are ready for the high traffic and high volume. 

My biggest advice to anyone starting a food business (online, wholesale, or storefront), come to Chefs Center (if you are local) or find a kitchen similar in your area and see what they can offer you.  It’s much easier to figure out what works and what doesn’t when you aren’t strapped in and in debt to begin with.  I will always thank everyone at Chefs Center for all their help and allowing me and my team to pursue our dreams!  There is no better feeling in the world than to do what you love to do! 

If any of you ever have any questions, I am always here to help!  You can email me at chefannette@thegoodiegirls.com.

For more info on Chefs Center please visit: www.chefscenter.org.

Here are more photos from our appearance Behind the Scenes: