Guys!!
It has been a hot minute and I am well overdue for a blog update.
I hope you’ve all been travelling well. We are well and truly into the year now… March already. How?!
The past month has been full throttle, with three consecutive weekends of baking, full-time working hours, content shoots and markets. Your girl is buckled in with Formula One grade seatbelts.
Content shoots are always an incredible day. Creative, energising and naturally inspiring. They’re the more glamorous side of building a business, but definitely not the everyday reality. This round I booked the most beautiful vintage furniture studio in Fitzroy. One of my favourite things about Melbourne is that there is truly something for everybody. Creativity, unique spaces, incredible food and coffee everywhere. It fuels me.
This content marked a shift. I leaned further into a founder-led focus, shot in a beautiful architectural space that really reflects the premium and indulgent nature of the brand. Founder-led organic content has been performing best, so I’m diving deeper into that direction and looking at ways to continue improving performance metrics. Which also means talking in front of the camera.
At launch, that idea terrified me. I was convinced I wouldn’t go down the face-to-camera path. But growth requires discomfort and stepping into that space is necessary as I build and scale. I’m committed to improving in this area and leaning into it properly.
Markets have been slow. February wasn’t a strong month for market sales. After speaking with other stallholders, it was a common theme. Weather, time of year and long weekends all play a role. Markets are still such a valuable asset to my business and I genuinely love attending them, but they can be inconsistent. Nonetheless, we keep moving.
Now that I have a few solid months of financial data behind me, I’ve started tracking performance metrics much more intentionally. This is an area where I have a lot of growth ahead. With kitchen hire, ingredients, market fees, content production and overheads rolling in, the importance of accurate tracking, budgeting, managing cash burn and understanding where the business truly sits at any given time is critical.
It’s daunting because I’m aware of how much there is to learn. But it’s exciting because this is exactly what I need to learn to move into the next level of business ownership. I’m learning to view progression through data rather than emotion. That shift alone is powerful.
March has also brought some exciting collaborations. I’ve kicked off my first partnership with Nuvoletta, a small-batch handcrafted gelato shop here in Melbourne. Every Monday throughout March we’re running a special collaboration. Their values align beautifully with mine, small batch, premium ingredients, handcrafted quality. It feels like the right fit. Another collaboration is in the works for June, but I’ll share more on that soon.
At the end of March, I’ll be attending The Art of Dining as part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. It’s an annual ticketed event featuring 70 food stalls from Melbourne and around Australia, and I’m really looking forward to it. Mum is flying over from Adelaide to help me that weekend, bless her.
I’ve also started exploring the purchase of a warehouse space as part of a long-term strategy. The plan would be to lease it initially and transition my manufacturing into the space once the business can comfortably carry the repayments. Securing a space that is suitable for food production from the outset is critical. Infrastructure decisions around power, ventilation and compliance can be costly if overlooked, so due diligence is everything. It’s a longer-term move, but one that aligns with the bigger vision.
This recent acceleration has highlighted a few key things for me. Time management matters more than ever. Prioritising properly is essential. Sleep cannot be compromised. And numbers don’t lie. Having clearer financial awareness has helped me move from emotional reactions to data-driven decisions.
Thank you for following along. I truly appreciate every one of you who supports, reads, shares or purchases. It means more than you know.
Warmly,
Kacie <3