What happened in 2021
First, you may have seen a few different faces at our commercial kitchen, as well as our pop-ups. Peter and I weren't able to continue this venture alone as we still juggle full-time jobs, so our team slowly expanded to one additional part-time employee, to now three, and hopefully four very soon! Having a dedicated, hardworking team is a game-changer when it comes to running a small business, and I owe it all to my amazing employees for bringing us through our busiest seasons - we are also currently hiring one more baking assistant!
We also made our way into participating in over 30 pop-ups and events, allowing us to expand our reach and share cookies with new customers. All the event momentum led us into the official launch of our semi-permanent pop-up retail space at The Source Zero in early December, which is where you can now find us every Friday - Sunday from 12 - 4 PM. It's great to have a place we can continually call home for a few months, and we look forward to doing more events soon in parallel!
Regarding our mission for spreading the love and importance of organic, sustainable food, we were able to highlight a few of our partners and local sustainable food organizations. We put a pause on these blog highlights due to a ramp-up in demand during the holiday season but are brainstorming new ways that we can connect our customers with the sustainable food community, inspiring them along the way.
The holiday season was busier than expected, so the least we could do was find ways to give back. Our team spent time volunteering, and a portion of our sales went to various non-profits in the area this past year. We also joined 1% for the planet, as a commitment to continue to give 1% of our revenue, if not more, to other organizations doing great work to take care of the planet we call home.
Looking forward to 2022
Progressing into a new year, we hope to continually work towards securing our own bakery space if and when we find the right fit. We look forward to having our very own shop to bake fresh cookies in throughout the day, and potentially transform into an event space for workshops and seminars in the evenings. One can dream!
Otherwise as mentioned, we are brainstorming ways to better communicate our vision and mission with our local community, whether it be through online content or in-person events. 2021 was a year to hone in on optimizing our baking operations, so we hope 2022 will be a year of continual growth and the opportunity to expand on our mission. Giving back and being part of 1% for the planet is one aspect of our sustainability mission, but we aspire to do more. Open tours to our local organic farms and partners, flavor development events, or sustainable food and gardening workshops - whatever it is, we have ideas but we'd love to know what you're interested in! If you have suggestions or something peaks your interest, do let us know - we'd love to hear your feedback as your opinion is so valuable to us!
So that's our wrap on 2021, but we look forward to many more exciting times this year. Thank you for taking part in our mission and vision - you are bringing so much joy and purpose to all of us at Christine's Cookie Co.
