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For Brooklyn-based small business owner Carmen Ladipo, her passion for baking took root early on. “I’ve had a sweet tooth for as long as I can remember,” Carmen tells Squarespace. “In middle school, I took a class similar to Home Economics, where we learned how to bake cookies. Once I figured out I could sustain my sweet tooth on my own, it was a wrap.”
But it wasn’t until years later that Carmen began to monetize that passion by launching a small-batch cookies ecommerce business on the side. “I’d just moved to New York City, and was trying to remember how to make friends as an adult,” Carmen says. “I got a membership at the local climbing gym and would bring cookies for the staff and other climbers—indeed an effective friend-making strategy.” After being “fervently encouraged” several times to sell her cookies, Carmen took advantage of some extra time in between jobs to officially register her own food business in Brooklyn.
“It honestly started out as an excuse to get paid to bake for local friends on occasion,” Carmen jokes. “But over the last five years, Carmen’s Cookies has blossomed into an ecommerce site that has me shipping cookies all across the country to friends and strangers alike.”
We talked with Carmen about the ways she prioritizes the social and environmental impact of her business, how she balances running this one-woman operation alongside other work and responsibilities, and the Squarespace tools that help Carmen’s Cookies run smoothly.
Prioritizing local community and social impact
Visitors to the Carmen’s Cookies website and social media are immediately greeted with the warmth of Carmen’s brand, including the tagline: “Providing happiness for your togetherness.” Carmen’s offerings include experimental seasonal flavors like ras el hanout or matcha lemon, alongside her beloved classics like brown butter chocolate chip and orange clove. It takes only a quick glance at the cookies’ product reviews to see the happiness her cookies are bringing to people all over.
But right from the start, Carmen’s Cookies has been about more than just selling cookies. “I feel like food business owners have a responsibility to the environment and their local communities to be mindful of their impact,” Carmen says.
“There are so many resources that go into making and selling food that bear recognition and scrutiny in order to do minimal harm unto the planet. For this reason, I stay mindful of where my ingredients are coming from and how their manufacturers are regarding their own environmental and social impact.” Carmen is transparent on her website about where she responsibly sources her ingredients from. She even includes an interactive way to trace where her baking chocolate comes from.
And her commitment doesn’t stop there. “It’s also been important to me to find ways to support the ongoing efforts of food justice in the greater Brooklyn community,” Carmen says.
“Every year, I choose an organization working directly with its local community to empower economic development and food sustainability. I donate a portion of annual proceeds to these organizations because I want Carmen’s Cookies to have a positive impact in the place it calls home.” Customers can always check the business’s About page to learn where Carmen has been donating a portion of sales.
“As for the Carmen’s Cookies community,” Carmen adds, “it’s been moving to see customers come together in support of different causes over the years. Helping facilitate the donation of hundreds of dollars for various local and national organizations for food justice and marginalized communities through cookie sales has been a highlight.”
Setting expectations with customers
Beyond being transparent about her cookies’ social and environmental impact, Carmen has also discovered the benefits of being super clear with her customers about the Carmen’s Cookies order fulfillment and shipping schedule. This kind of communication helps her both build trust with her customers and decrease stress in her operations, especially because Carmen’s Cookies isn’t her day job.
"Having a vision of what my days and weeks should look like while running a business—how many hours I’m willing to put in—has been essential," Carmen says, "especially because I make each batch of cookies to order."
"I recently set a shipping schedule where I only go to the post office on Fridays to send out orders," she adds. "Previously, I did not set up expectations with customers about when they would receive their orders—I felt that the onus was on me to get each order out as soon as I could once they were placed. The unpredictable nature of this arrangement made for some stressful and rushed weeks."
"Once I designed a clear ordering timeline, I could share this with customers so that they knew when to expect their cookies, and I could plan my weeks in advance, knowing exactly how many orders I’d be fulfilling before the week started. Creating boundaries in this way has been paramount in maintaining balance between the cookies and everything else."
Establishing those kinds of boundaries and fulfillment expectations year-round particularly serve Carmen once peak sales periods like popular holidays arrive. "Having a set schedule for shipping has been a major help in managing order fulfillment," Carmen says. "I now know during the holiday season what volume is achievable for me and can decide how many orders to accept before selling out."
Streamlining with Squarespace tools
Choosing the right tools to help run your business is particularly important when you're the only person running the show. For Carmen, Squarespace provides many of those tools that help her run an effective ecommerce food business. “Compared to other ecommerce platforms, Squarespace provides a serious suite of customizable design tools,” Carmen says.
Squarespace’s branding and analytics tools have been particularly useful for Carmen’s Cookies. “The ability to change everything from a page layout to the site typeface and button appearances has helped me craft the Carmen’s Cookies brand voice and vibe in a way that also complements my photography style. That branding carries over to the physical cookie packaging, the Instagram presence, and more.”
“I also enjoy checking the analytics tab to get a better sense of where site traffic is coming from and find opportunities to improve SEO or marketing efforts via social media. I can use the data to set goals based on past order histories and annual revenue patterns, and plan well in the future for things like holiday traffic and fulfillment.”
Want to start your own side-business?
As a business owner with several years of experience, here’s Carmen’s advice:
1. Connect with your community for support.
“Tap into your existing community; you never know who might know something or someone to help you get your footing. Some are surprised to learn that the local professional patisserie/baking community in New York is very encouraging rather than competitive. I have supportive friends who have been in the industry for many years to whom I can ask questions.”
2. Set boundaries to nurture your passion.
“Maintaining boundaries will be key in making sure you still love what you do and want to spend a lot of time doing it. Once those boundaries are blurred, it’s easy to burn out and lose that love. I check in with myself regularly to make sure that’s the case, and if I feel the line teetering, I can take a step back and assess what to do to recalibrate.”
3. Dive in and learn by doing.
“I would encourage anyone who hesitates before executing (like me) to just dive in. Sure, having a loose idea of why you want to do what you’re doing, and why you are uniquely equipped to do so will help, but I’ve found that learning by doing has been the best education.”
Inspired by Carmen’s story? Start building your own brand on Squarespace.