Female Founders
invested $25,000 cash. We took no salary
for the first 2 years and put everything back
into the business. It was very important
to have another source of income that allowed us to grow our company this way.
When we opened the Phoenix location,
we borrowed about half of the amount
needed. We were able to get the loan because we had 5 years of proven business
experience under our belts and money
in the bank. We did our best to pay cash
for everything and continued to reinvest
in our company. We did not take salaries
or distributions until the company could
actually afford them.
What were the keys to funding your
brand? We funded the brand with cash
from our three corporately owned bakeries. We worked with iFranchise Group
to set up our brand, and we re-branded
just as we were on the brink of selling our
first franchise (which set us back about
9 months). During 2008 when times got
really tough, we shut down our corporate
office and moved back into our bakeries.
At this time, we realized we needed a financial infusion and were very fortunate
to have Craig Moore, former president of
CiCi’s Pizza, join our company as a partner.
BUILDING THE BUSINESS
What has been the best and the
hardest thing about being an entrepreneur? Best: The responsibility
for your success or failure is all yours. I
like that kind of control. Hardest: The
responsibility for your success or failure
is all yours. This definitely keeps you up
at night and creates a work ethic that can
interfere with your life balance.
How has your experience in running
a franchise business been different
from what you expected? I didn’t
truly understand what was entailed until I
walked in the shoes of every department,
which I did in the beginning. We always
talk about choosing the right people, but
actually doing so was much more difficult than I anticipated. The evolution of
our sales/evaluation process has been an
amazing journey.
How did you grow the brand at first?
What changed as you expanded?
We were fortunate in that we have never
advertised for a lead or used a franchise
broker. Our leads come from either the
bakery experience or from someone eating
the cake, loving it, and deciding to check
into whether or not we are a franchise.
From the beginning, we understood that
franchising is a symbiotic relationship, and
that if we were to succeed we had to make
sure our franchisees were successful. Dena
and I were extremely hands-on with each
franchisee and were the opening team for
the first 15 bakeries. Through this process we learned what was missing in our
opening documentation, training, and
how we needed to improve. Each opening taught us something new, and with
our egos aside we continued to learn and
make the necessary changes to improve
the process and set up the franchisees for
success. As we have expanded, we continue
to learn but now have an amazing team
of people to wear the many hats we used
to wear. We have chosen our team wisely
and they fit our culture. They have the
spirit of a champion, a servant’s heart, and
they make genuine connections serving
our franchisees. The right people on the
team make all the difference.
How did you transition from founding a brand to leading a brand? I
listened and learned. The experience of
having people look to you for answers
demands leadership. One of the toughest
transitions was letting go of my “baby”
(the founder mentality) and realizing this
was now a business that was the livelihood
of many other people too. Deciding to
franchise meant Nothing Bundt Cakes
could no longer be mine, that it had to
evolve and change.
How would you describe your leadership style? I am an information gatherer and like to involve my team in the
decision-making process. Then I will
make a final decision. One of my hardest
lessons learned was that decisions simply
need to be made, and if they are wrong,
fix them and move on!
What is the key to your company’s
success? An unbelievably great product
that we have never compromised, and
a warm, welcoming brand that attracts
great franchise candidates. In addition, at
about 13 locations, we knew we needed
some strong franchise experience and so
we brought in Craig Moore as a partner.
He had led CiCi’s to great success and
brought us tremendous knowledge and
perspective, which was key at this time
in the life of the brand.
BEING FEMALE
Was being female an advantage or
disadvantage for you in building
your company? How? I can honestly
say that we never really gave being female a thought. We simply worked hard
and made things happen, never running
into any roadblocks that had to do with
being female. We were self-funded so
we did not have to get a loan to start our
company. This may have been a place
we would have felt disadvantaged, as we
lacked the experience a bank would have
been seeking.
Have you found specific advantages
or disadvantages to being a woman