Today we’d like to introduce you to Kimberly Gonzalez.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Kimberly. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
In high school, I would make chocolate chip cookies or brownies and give them as gifts to friends for birthdays. As you would imagine, this got a great response. I enjoyed having something homemade to give. At some point, a friend and I started what we called “Tasty Tuesdays”, where we would find a recipe to try to make after school on Tuesdays. I wasn’t sure what career I wanted to pursue at the time, but I began thinking about going to culinary school. I looked at a few schools but was very turned off by the price tag. I spent time traveling and going to school and kept finding excuses to bake.
Since my first job at 16, I’ve always worked in the food industry. First an Italian restaurant, an ice cream store (the one where you have to sing when people tip), and an independent coffee shop. After deciding not to transfer to a four year, I decided to take a Baking and Pastry program over summer. It gave me confidence and clarity about what I liked about baking and was skilled at, what I might like to learn more about, and what I wasn’t interested in. Working at the independent coffee shop opened my eyes to what it’s like to start a small business. I developed a strong respect for small businesses and the important role they play in building a community.
The coffee shop that I worked at was having a difficult time sourcing pastries and my bosses had enjoyed more than a handful of my baked goods and knew my desire to bake as a career. When California passed the Cottage Food Law, which made it legal to bake and sell from a licensed home kitchen, my bosses encouraged me to look into it. It took a bit before I decided that I did want to pursue my baking career through this new option. Once I decided I did want to, it was months before I felt ready to make my first sale. I made a very simple five-year business plan, recipe tested for months and developed a rather extensive menu. I told myself that five years would be a trial run and then I would assess after five years, see if I still loved it, and make a decision from there.
I was 24, August 2014, when I opened that first sales order book and began to supply homemade, from scratch pastries to the coffee shop. I continued to work and assistant manager for about the next four years. We worked to continue to grow the coffee shop and the pastry orders grew with it. I would wake up earlier than I ever like to, bake dozens of pastries, get to work, stock the pastry case, drink a dirty chai and work my shift. It sounds lovely, but I don’t think that’s quite the right word for it, though I loved it. There was just so much I didn’t know about starting a food business from scratch.
I learned so much about baking, about myself, about micro-business, and I got direct feedback from customers. I realized that I don’t just love baking because I love treats. I definitely love treats and eat them regularly, but I also just really enjoy holding dough in my hand that is perfectly pliable, separating an egg and holding the yolk in my hand, trying new recipes, and sharing one of my delicious treats with the people I love. I would say about three years in I knew that I loved baking as a business. The feedback I got convinced me that I had something special and I wanted to keep challenging myself in all the ways a small business causes you too, personally and professionally. I had the support of my husband, my family, and friends and the desire and freedom to, so after spending the majority of my twenties working at the coffee shop, demand for my pastries rising, and not enough hours in a day to spread myself so thin, I decided it was time to make the leap and go full time with Bake Up.
In May of 2018, I made the leap. The rest of the year flew by, I began getting orders from other great coffee shops in surrounding areas and doing pop up events from time to time. In August 2019, I hit that five-year mark, and I almost didn’t notice, because I was too busy baking to keep up with orders and planning for the upcoming season. I felt caught right in the thick of it, and I felt like that was exactly where I was meant to be. So Bake Up continues into a new and exciting chapter that’s developing right now. Just last weekend, Bake Up began selling as a regular vendor at the Old Town Newhall Farmer’s Market. Holiday boutiques with other local makers are coming up, and 2020 is right around the corner. I’m currently digging into the hard work on the business side of Bake Up, as well as daydreaming about new recipes to try.
Has it been a smooth road?
Bake Up has had many unexpected struggles along the way. Every step forward brings new obstacles. I’ve been assured that this is just the process of building something worthwhile, and after riding the waves of the ups and downs I believe it too. The bakery has really taken over my little home, so space and location is a struggle right now. In those first six months, I had stress dreams almost every night of me baking and then I’d wake up exhausted and realize that was just dreamwork and the real work still needed to get done.
I actually lost weight, despite all the treats I was eating, because I wasn’t making time to eat. Sometime in year three my back and shoulders were killing me all the time and I gave myself an overuse injury in my shoulder. That was a wake-up call, that I needed to take better care of myself if I wanted to continue to roll out dough and keep growing my business. I learned that I needed to accept help when it is offered, and even be willing to ask for it sometimes. Personally, Bake Up has grown me in so many ways that those closest to me have witnessed, and I’m really thankful for that.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Bake Up is an Acton based licensed home bakery started by Kim Gonzalez in 2014 that offers a unique menu that continues to develop, including a variety of unique cookies, bars, coffee cakes, scones, loaves, tarts, and galette’s. We bake classic favorites like lemon bars, blondie bars, as well as playful offerings like pop tarts and earl grey marshmallows, vegan peach crumble bars, and much more. This year we’ve been excited about working with a variety of whole grain flours.
We make these goods available to surrounding areas through wholesale sales to coffee shops in Lancaster and Santa Clarita, local boutique shops, seasonal popup events, and now a weekly certified farmers market. We’re proud to provide our community access to locally produced, fresh, scratch-made, high quality unique baked goods. We think a delicious treat is such a joy and should be savored and feel worth it. Over the last couple of years, we’ve learned more about the great texture and flavor that using quality ingredients gives our pastries and combined with a great recipe and fresh, scratch-made doughs and fillings each treat made by Bake Up is special to us.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I’ve travelled to quite a few other countries, but I’ve never lived outside of Los Angeles county, besides my 1st year of life in San Diego. I don’t know what it would be like to start a business like mine somewhere else. I grew up on the outskirts of Los Angeles County in the Antelope Valley and I started Bake Up where I am now in Acton. It’s an unincorporated area with a lot of horses and no stoplights right in the middle of the Antelope Valley and Santa Clarita Valley, so I serve both. Southern California is my home, and I love it, but it is a very expensive place to exist, which makes starting a business a challenge. The people of LA love great food and that’s a community I’m excited to be a part of. I’m willing to do the hard work it takes to continue growing my business here. I’m also really thankful that the Cottage Food Law was passed in California, otherwise, my story wouldn’t be possible.
Contact Info:
- Phone: 6613055898
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bakeup_bykim/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BakeUpPastries/
- Other: https://l.instagram.com/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fspark.adobe.com%2Fpage%2FRTLQgPCSQinXd%2F&e=ATN-RXrJdAlv0wWkl_ExwOTJB9Qs0zAb0UzGUdQKQSQUARAa94xUsCH8lEIfN4s5OxP-Rb-4tEFq1S4s
Image Credit:
Britt Elexandria
Russell Pirchio
Kimberly Gonzalez
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