Well I did it!  My first customer appreciation day is in the books and it will go down in history as a very proud moment for me.  It was a bit of a whirlwind day for me, but I'll do my best to put it into words for you.  

I'll admit, I was super nervous leading up to this event.  I've been to other companies customer appreciation days before, but I've never planned an event like this myself.  I was mostly nervous that nobody would come and the event would bomb for all the wonderful vendors who took their time and energy just to be part of my special day.  It's one thing to make hundreds of cupcakes for an open day and not have a good turn out...that all falls onto me.  But this...this involved a lot more people and their expectations of a good event for their products as well. SO MUCH PRESSURE!  What if nobody shows up? What if the vendors feel like they wasted their time?? What if people think this is silly??  This is what ran through my head on a non-stop roll leading up to the event.  

I had the vendors, I made all the cupcakes (and cookies), I had the signs, balloons, decorations, door prizes, specials on cupcakes, cookies samples, music, a photo booth, coloring table, and a "plan" in my head...now I just needed people to show up and enjoy.....

And boy did they ever!  My open days always have those very busy couple of hours, but I've never sold over 700 cupcakes in two hours before!!  Did I mention my event was four hours?!  I had my fingers crossed that I'd be able to sell a lot of cupcakes and sell out....but I never imagined it would be so quickly!  Thankfully, my customers are almost always understanding, and even congratulatory, when I run out.  Plus, there were a ton of awesome vendors there... so there was more fun to be had beyond cupcakes.  I still felt awful for running out-however, just like the trend with my open days, there's usually a rush the first hours and then foot traffic slows down-so I'm not all that positive I would have needed that many more.  lf only I wouldn't have chosen those few hours of sleep......

As usual, I had my husband and baby with me for the big day.  Aaron helped dish out cupcakes at rapid speed and Wyatt strolled around with grandpa and grandma making his rounds.  It still doesn't feel real that I organized (not without the help from vendors reaching out and/or spreading the word for me) my very first customer appreciation day.  Sorry to sound like a broken record here, but sometimes I feel the need to pinch myself, because how can this possible be real?  Only a few years ago Steph's Sweet Treats was just something I would dream of and laugh at the thought of it actually happening.  And now here I am...beyond lucky to have you guys... the customers to make this day possible and to keep me in the kitchen baking day after day.  You don't know how much each and every order means to me.  So THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!  

This day was a celebration for the customers.  For you to come get cupcakes, shop vendors, get your photos taken in the photo booth, eat pizza, and just have a fun local Saturday.  I hope you were able to make it, (if not, I really hope to do it again!), and I hope you had tons of fun!  Having my friends and family present was the cherry on top!  

-I will be uploading all the event photos on Facebook over the weekend.  If you took a photo booth photo or just want to look through the photos that's where you can find them.  Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart, for making this event a success and for another week of orders!

Here's a sneak peek at a few more photos from PhotosByShawna-

There's a lot of fun events coming up that I will be attending (or hosting) so this blog post will fill you in on the details so you can mark your calendars and join in on the fun!

Besides my monthly open days (next one is April 13th so make sure you pop in for some pre-Easter goodies!), here's what you can look forward to:

Wisconsin Grilled Cheese Championship:  This year is the 6th annual Grilled Cheese Championship (my third year attending) and believe me when I tell you this event gets bigger and better every year!  The event will be held on April 29th 11am-4pm at the Ley Memorial Pavilion at Harris Park.  The event is free and is fun the whole family.  Stop by to watch the competition, sample local cheeses, grab lunch and drinks from local food trucks and of course grab your dessert...my cupcakes!

Sip and Savor: Taste of Southwest Wisconsin-  this event (on May 13 4pm-7pm) is being held by Upland Hills Health and also takes place at the Ley Memorial Pavillion at Harris Park.  It's the first year this event will be taking place, so make sure you stop by so it can occur year after year!  Admission is free, but you purchase tickets in order to "sip and savor" local foods and drinks...including my cupcakes!  There will also be music by Shekinah King and Point Five.  The bases are all covered: food, drinks, music, and cupcakes!  A guaranteed good time so mark your calendars!

Also in May (it's going to be a busy few months!) I will be setting up at an amazing new location just outside of town.  The details are still in the works, but it will be May 20 at White Oak Savanna so mark your calendar and check out this beautiful place!

And lastly, my very own event:  Steph's Sweet Treats customer appreciation day!  Once again, the event will be at the Ley Memorial Pavillon at Harris Park; June 25th 11am-3pm.  I did a previous blog post on this event, but here it is again!  The event is a day to celebrate the support of my customers with local vendors, door prizes, Steph's Sweet Treats merchandise, samples, and cupcakes!  There will also be a coloring table set up and I'm looking for someone who can do face painting (Cheeky Monkey is already booked- so I'm interested in just finding an artistic person looking to make a few bucks-contact me if you know someone or if you are interested!)  The event is free, but come ready to shop because there will be all kinds of amazing vendors!  

Vendors: LulaRoe, Arbonne, Norwex, dōTERRA®, Thirty-One, Scentsy, Avon, Decorative windows, L'bri, Magnolia & Vine, Plexus, Keep, Sign and craft maker, Haley's Country Connections, Clever Container, Fizziez, Decor and glass block maker, Woodn' Bucket Designs, Usborne Books, and Great Scott's Pizza.

I hope you can make it to all these events- I look forward to baking for them and seeing everyone!  Thanks for another week of orders!

Steph's Sweet Treats has grown mostly by word of mouth and Facebook.  My customers have been outstanding at telling their friends and family about me as well as spreading the word on Facebook.  I rarely do any outside advertising, so the fact that Steph's Sweet Treats has grown the way it has, just goes to further show how amazing my customers are.  So it's time to celebrate you...the customers!  

I am planning a Customer Appreciation Day event at the Ley Memorial Pavilion at Harris Park on June 25 from 11am-3pm!  All the details are still in the works but I wanted to get it out there early so you can mark your calendars and plan on stopping! Since there's been so many local supporters of me, I thought I'd make this a day to help and celebrate other small local businesses at the same time.  

So not only will I be set up with merchandise and discount cupcakes, there will be vendors of all kinds (example: LulaRoe, Arbonne, Scentsy, etc), door prizes, and hopefully some music and food vendors!  There will be all kinds of amazing things in one place for a day full of fun, cupcakes, and me thanking you for making Steph's Sweet Treats a dream come true for me!  Mark your calendars and stay tuned for all the details!

​As usual, thanks for another week of orders!!

It's been a crazy (good crazy) year so far over here at Steph's Sweet Treats!  With the year coming to an end...can you believe that?!..there are still a few events you can attend.  The first event you should know about is Off the Vine. 

I participated in Off the Vine in 2014 and had a blast.  It was not put on last year so I was very excited to hear it was back this year!  What is it?  It is an event put on by the Dodgeville Area Chamber of Commerce and local downtown businesses.  Each participating business has two wines and a snack; participants get to explore the businesses, meet the owners, snack, and taste great wines at each location.  If you are a wine lover, get your tickets now!  And don't forget to stop at Steph's Sweet Treats!  My snack will be some bite size cupcakes and cutout cookies.

Last year I did an event that I would love to do again, if time allows and if people are interested.  It was called "Ladies Night" and was held on a Friday night in April.  I had cupcakes for sale and then "hosted parties" of Norwex, Perfectly Posh, and Chloe+Isabel at the same time.  Anybody who stopped in had the opportunity to buy cupcakes, cleaning products, skin products, AND jewelry!  Sounds pretty amazing right?!  

Well I'd like to continuing doing events like this, but switch up the vendors every time so I can offer a good mix of goodies to people.  But I can't decide when to host the event and which vendors to have.  I do have a business card for a younique makeup consultant so I will probably contact them.  If you are a consultant for a company feel free to contact me!  I only have space for 3 (maybe 4 if you can take up a small amount of space) sellers and will have to weigh which vendors to take.  However, I can always keep a running list of people for future events so don't hesitate to contact me!

Please comment on here, on the Facebook post, or vote below.  

I hope to see you at these events!  As always, thanks for another week of orders!

If you didn't make it to the Grilled Cheese Championship this past weekend, I encourage you to get out and attend next year!  The event is great for people of all ages and gets bigger and better every year.

Besides being a free event, with a great competition, food trucks, beverages, and vendors; the event is great for me.  Not only does it give me a chance to sell cupcakes, it gets my name out there to people who may not have heard of me, I get to meet and connect with people and businesses, and watch people get excited about my cupcakes.

This year I was lucky enough to have a large space to work with so I had plenty of room to display my cupcakes, display shirts, bags, and my menus, as well has having space for all my to-go packs. I brought some of my most popular flavors to the event: vanilla raspberry, chocolate peanut butter, cookies and cream, chocolate chip cookie dough, and s'more. I didn't take any cheesecake flavors like I did last year just because I didn't want to have to worry about refrigeration...if only I would have known the concrete floor was still going to be frozen!  It would have been the perfect built in ice pack!

My husband helped me set up and since there's not much for him to do with the way I set up as vendor, he left because I didn't think I would need help...wrong!

Before the event even started I got the chance to talk to some other vendors, local business people and sell cupcakes to vendors and competitors.  Once the doors opened to the public, the craziness set in.  It wasn't like the open day craziness since most of the people coming through weren't getting packs to go; they were just getting the cupcakes to eat right then and there. So it was more of a constant but quick line.
 
Thankfully, my mom stopped in and stuck around which helped me big time!  If we got a break in the long line of people, she would hold my containers for me to restock.  Without her there I would have been balancing them or running back and forth from one end of the table to other.  

I loved, loved, loved meeting so many new people, people who had never heard of me before, as well as seeing the loyal customers.  I got a lot of stories from people telling me they'd had my cupcakes at a wedding or other event, or how they had been trying to stop at an open day but I was always sold out by time they made it.  So I'm glad they were able to get cupcakes at the Grilled Cheese Championship!

I was able to sell 555 cupcakes in less than 5 hours!  Amazing!!!  Didn't get any?  Don't worry; next Friday (May 6th) is my monthly open day!  Don't forget that cupcakes make the perfect Mother's Day gift!  Thanks for everyone who attended the Grilled Cheese Championship and thanks for another week of orders!

You may be thinking...what does grilled cheese have to do with cupcakes?  And before you start thinking I made a grilled cheese cupcake..I didn't.  I do however love me some grilled cheese!  My go to at Culver's is a grilled cheese kids meal...and yes, I am aware that I am a full grown adult!

Anyways, back to the Wisconsin Grilled Cheese Championship.  I participated as a vendor last year and am honored to be a part of it again this year.  If you don't know what it is, here's some information:

• Takes place Saturday April 23 at Harris Park (doors open to public at 11:00 am and 10:00 am for competitors)
• This is the 5th annual championship...which means it just keeps getting bigger and better every year!
• All day competitors compete in different grilled cheese categories.  There are judges to taste the sandwiches, and if you get VIP tickets you too can taste a few.
• Along with the competition there are food trucks set up, beer, wine, and a lot of different vendors selling items, mostly cheese, and me!...selling cupcakes of course!  What could be better?? Grilled cheese, beer and wine, cheese, AND cupcakes all in one place?!

Last year I had no idea what to expect.  I had been told it was a very popular event and that people come from all over the area for it...but I had NO idea it would be so packed!  It was amazing to see familiar faces as well as meet new people who had never heard of Steph's Sweet Treats.  I stuck with some fan favorites for flavors- vanilla raspberry, chocolate peanut butter, chocolate chip cookie dough, and chocolate chip cheesecake (you know...for some "cheese").  Even though I made over 400 cupcakes, I had to pack up and go home an hour before the event was over because I had nothing left.  Just like with open days, I know people don't necessarily like when I run out...but in my book that means a big success!  I'd much rather run out than have extras.  

I've been told that this year will be even bigger than last year.  Now I just have to decide how many cupcakes to take....500?  600??  Decisions, decisions.  If you've never attended the Wisconsin Grilled Cheese Championship I recommend that you do!  It's a great spring event for people of all ages....and did I mention it's free to attend?!  General admission tickets are free, but VIP tickets are available.  With those you get: 

• To taste 4 of the grilled cheese competition sandwiches​
• A cup of Bob's Bitchin BBQ's tomato and grilled cheese soup (my absolute favorite!! The VIP ticket is worth this alone!)
• One free beverage
• Event grab bag.

To get your general admission of VIP tickets, click here.

I hope to see you all there!  Thanks for another week of orders and for making another successful open day last Friday!
​

Whether you love it or hate, Valentine's Day will be here soon!  The good news....even if you don't like Valentine's Day, who says you can't enjoy some cupcakes?!  Valentine's Day is always a very busy time for Steph's Sweet Treats, so I hope this year is no different.  Since it's on a Sunday, I was a little concerned about how to do my open day. 

Ultimately, I decided to go big, and do two days (Friday and Saturday)!  So here's the scoop on the open days and for those of you wanting to place orders for Valentine's Day.

Each day has a separate event page.  If you plan on stopping by one of the days, please visit the appropriate event page and click "going."  I try to use these numbers to figure out how many cupcakes I will make, so please let me know you will be stopping..the more attendees, the more cupcakes I make!

Friday's hours will be normal open day hours- 6:30am-5pm (or until sold out).  I will have more cupcakes available Friday than I will for Saturday.  Once the allotted cupcakes are sold for Friday, I will close shop and reopen Saturday from 8am-3pm.  The flavors will be: decorated vanilla and chocolate, vanilla raspberry, red velvet, chocolate chip cookie dough, chocolate peanut butter, champagne, cookies n cream, chocolate covered strawberry, mint chocolate chip, GF birthday cake, and death by chocolate. There will also be cutout cookies and brookies.

Here is the event page for Friday- Friday's open day  
Here is the event page for Saturday- Saturday's open day

A lot of times people like to order ahead for Valentine's Day.  I am limiting what you can pre-order...mostly for my own sanity and because of the amount of time it takes to get all the orders ready in the midst of getting everything else done. (There's not enough hours in the day!) If you are ordering for Valentine's Day you can get:
-Cupcake bouquet (7 cupcakes) in vanilla, chocolate or red velvet
-Pre-pack #1:  2 decorated vanilla, 2 decorated chocolate, 2 red velvet, 3 vanilla raspberry and 3 chocolate peanut butter
-Pre-pack #2: 3 chocolate chip cookie dough, 3 chocolate covered strawberry, 3 champagne, and 3 mint chocolate chip
-Cut-out cookies

Cutoff for pre-orders is February 5

If you want 4-packs, 6-packs, or 12-packs mixed with different flavors and quantities, you must come in to do so; you cannot pre-order anything other than the four items listed above. Sorry for the inconvenience, but it gets way too crazy and time consuming to pull all sorts of custom mixed 4, 6, and 12 packs, especially for Valentine's Day since there are even more orders and so many flavors.

So please click "going" in the day you plan on attending; pre-order by February 5 if you plan on doing so; only pre-order from the list above; and don't forget to share the events with your friends on Facebook and by word-of-mouth!

Thanks again for another week of orders and for making last week's open day a huge success!

Hey everyone!  I need your thoughts!  Please take a moment to take this quick (very quick) poll for me.  It would help me a lot! Thanks again for another week of orders and I hope to see you all at the open day Friday!!

In case you didn't know, Steph's Sweet Treats only opens once a month. Once a month?!  Yes, yes I know.  It's not that often.  But there's reason and logic behind it.   I promise!  It's just me, myself, and I running the bakery, so when I opened I chose to bake by order.  After opening to the public for Valentine's Day last year, I realized it drew a crowd and created a "special event" for the area.  That's when it hit me that I should aim to open once a month.  I plan to stick with this method since it has kept me busy! 

I try to keep the open days around the same time of the month, but events, especially weddings, have thrown that off.  I've had some people wonder why I only open once a month, and what goes into it...so I thought I'd do a post telling everyone about it.

I've talked a little bit in the past about why I bake by order and only open once a month, but in case you need a refresher: 
-I'm the only baker/owner so I do all the work.  
-I want Steph's Sweet Treats to be different and unique.
-Opening once a month creates more of a crowd and makes it special.
-Opening daily wouldn't move the same amount of product-I don't think the area could sustain more than one open daily bakery.

So...what goes into an open day? The first thing I do is try to find a day that works.  Which is always a challenge because I never know what orders are going to pop up for that weekend. Recently, I had an unexpected wedding pop up on one of my open days and it worked better than expected since they chose mostly from flavors I was having for the open day.  Since wedding season is in full swing, availability is very limited at Steph's Sweet Treats.  For this reason, the next two open days fall on wedding weekends.  For these open days, I will base flavors on the wedding orders and probably have less cupcakes available.

Once I have a day picked, I start picking flavors.  I like to do one gluten free, two flavors that are deluxe level and at least six that are specialty flavors.  Sometimes I go overboard and do more specialty flavors (because I can't decide) and throw in some regular vanilla and chocolate as well.  For June's open day I did: Gluten free vanilla strawberry, birthday cake, funfetti, thin mint copycat, raspberry white chocolate cheesecake, strawberry rhubarb, hot fudge sundae, Mississippi mud pie, and peanut butter cookie dough.  (Plus some random extras I had throughout the day)   I try to throw in a few flavors I've had at previous open days, a few go-tos/favorites, as well as some flavors that are new to open days.  

Depending on the orders for the week and weekend, prepping for the open day can vary.  Usually, Wednesday is when I do prepping of things like, frosting, fillings, crusts, etc.  Thursday, in the wee hours of the morning, I start baking.  I like to bake things the day before they are going to get eaten.  I have found, at least for my recipes and methods, that sitting overnight helps develop flavors and makes the cupcakes more moist.  Then, 12-14 hours later when I finish the cupcakes, I get my display cases out, write on the menu board, stock up my stickers and containers, have my husband put my signs up around town, and head home for a little sleep.

Every open day I do I feel like a kid on their first day of school...I can't sleep!  I love seeing customers, seeing their reactions if it's their first time, catching up with repeat customers, etc.  Even though I have to wake up early and get going again, it's always hard for me to sleep through the night because I'm excited to wake up and see everyone!

The morning of an open day I wake bright and early (again) and start baking (again)!  This time around it's for the weekend orders that are not related to the open day.  I try to get everything baked so I can go back throughout the day and finish frosting and decorating whatever it is that needs to be done.  So if you come in and I'm running around in back, I'm trying to finish an order, baking, doing dishes, or washing containers all the cupcakes were stored in.

I open at 6:30 in the morning because there's always a few people who go to work early and want to stop before work so they don't run the risk of not getting any after they are done with work.  Lately, getting my door open by 6:30 has been a challenge.  It takes a long time to load my cases now that I have four of them....I have no idea how I survived on two cases before!  So I start loading the cupcakes around 5:45 am, then move things around so I have space for the rest of the cupcakes in the kitchen while keeping the weekend orders separate.  

In the first hour of being open I try to get as many of my weekend orders done as possible and get any pre-orders packed up.  I got lucky this past open day and didn't have too many orders for the weekend.  Normally, I would have been freaking out about not having very many weekend orders, but since it was an open day, I was pretty relieved.  I also knew that people who would have normally ordered chose to just use the open day cupcakes for whatever their weekend events were.    

This open day was extra special for me.  My Grandpa and Grandma Carley came from Richland Center to see me and get some cupcakes.  They do this often, but it never becomes any less special.  Plus, my grandpa said "I'm pretty proud of you kid."  Tears!  The words "I'm proud of you" always make me get teary-eyed, but having it come from him means even more.  To top it off....my cousin and Godson came all the way from LaCrosse!!!  Such an amazing feeling to see them walk into my shop.  I don't get to see them that often so their long trip to see me was extra special. 

My husband stopped by after he got done with work and did my dishes and kept me company...thank you, thank you, thank you!  It was a busy day, so even though I had the weekend orders finished, I had not had the chance to do the dishes yet.  He also brought me lunch....which took me three hours to fully eat.  Like I said...it was a busy day!  I was running around so much my husband said I was making him tired just by watching me.  I love every minute of it though!

I started the open day with 671 cupcakes, but with some extras I had from my weekend baking and the baking for the wedding tasting I had to do the next morning, I put out 736 cupcakes...and sold them all.  Did I mention how amazing all my customers are?!  Thank you all so much!  Thank you for another week of orders and helping me sell out the open day!  Hope to see you all on July 24 for the next one!

One of the best things about owning Steph's Sweet Treats is getting the chance to network with new people and connect with customers.  I have had the chance to do events like Off the Vine and bridal expos before, but this year's events are getting bigger and better.  Part of the reason I have had the opportunity to take part in some of the events and meet more people is because I joined the Dodgeville Chamber of Commerce.  It has been nothing but a great experience and I can't wait to see what else the new membership brings by way!

Photo courtesy of Sue Reukauf

Did you make it to the Wisconsin Grilled Cheese Championship?  Over 2500 people did! Including my Grandpa and Grandma Carley (pictured above). Before I get into the Grilled Cheese Championship, I want to take a moment to talk about my grandpa and grandma Carley.  I cannot express how supportive, loving, and amazing these two are.  They have always been a very important part of my life and still are to this day.  Whether it was watching me test for a belt in karate when I was a kid, coming to games in highschool (to watch me cheer not play), or driving all the way from Richland Center to grab a cupcake at my open day or see me set up at an event as an adult.  Even if they aren't coming to Dodgeville to stop by my shop, my grandma still makes sure to wear her Steph's Sweet Treats shirt whenever she is in the surrounding area.  Thank you so much for the support grandma and grandpa.  I love you!!!  

This was my first year attending and vending at the event and I can't wait for next year!  If you don't know about the event, here are a few tidbits:  Held at the Ley Pavillion at Harris Park; put on by the Chamber of Commerce; a variety of cheese vendors, local vendors, and restaurants set up; nine rounds of grilled cheese competitions ranging from amateurs to professionals; music, beer, and a lot of people!

The amount of people coming through was crazy, but even more importantly, meeting new people and getting my cupcakes to new potential customers was great.  The line of people was exciting and seeing toddlers clap for cupcakes touched my heart.  

I was completely lost for how many customers to expect so I came with around 350 cupcakes.  I ran out at 2:30.....the event went until 4!  Running out of cupcakes is ALWAYS the goal, so I was happy to run out, but definitely should have made more. 

Vintage Bloom Portrait Studio took pictures of the Grilled Cheese Championship and provided the last two photos for me to use. They are located at 117 N. Iowa St. in Dodgeville.  608-334-2499

Ladies Night wasn't an event put on by anyone and isn't something that I have done before.  I was approached by someone who wanted to buy cupcakes for a  Chloe + Isabel pop up shop.  She asked if I would be interested in having a party of my own.  I was interested, and thought it would be great to make a night out of it.  I knew some other women who sold Norwex and Perfectly Posh products, so I asked them to join.....and Ladies Night was created!  

Chloe + Isabel
This was my first time hearing about Chloe + Isabel jewelry and I am very impressed with it.  They have great quality and price.  They even have a new bridal line!   One thing I particularly liked was their convertible necklaces.  You can wear them all at once, or individually.  It's like getting four different pieces of jewelry for the price of one!  Click on the link below for more information/to order from my vendor.

https://www.facebook.com/candibycarissamenke/timeline?ref=page_internal

Perfectly Posh
Want to pamper yourself with natural products that are made right here in the USA?  Then you want to check out Perfectly Posh!  These body products have no parabens, sulfates, paraffins, fillers, or lanolin, and are instead full of natural butters and essential oils.  I got a few samples before the party and fell in love with the Hot Pepper ShaBang Butter.  It's for muscle aches and pains so I rubbed it on my feet after some long 14+ hours of standing at the bakery. (I should really sit down once it awhile!) Usually after a day like that my feet would hurt within an hour of waking up the next day.  If I use the Hot Pepper ShaBang Butter after a long day, the next day I can make it to the afternoon before my feet and legs start aching.  Then I just put more on and I'm good to go!  I ordered A LOT of different items and I am positive I will love them all.  Click on the link below for more information/to order from my vendor.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/745875962198518/

Ladies Night didn't draw as big of a crowd as I expected (since there were a lot of people interested), but it was still a success.  It was my first time doing it, but I hope to make it a yearly event.  I am even thinking of doing it twice a year.  Spring would be for independent consultants (like Chloe + Isabel, Perfectly Posh, and Norwex) and Fall would be for locals who make and sell items.  I already have some good people/products in mind for Fall! 

Thank you for another week of orders!