Milestones of our 4th birthday

May 16, 2024

It’s always a big year for small businesses, so let’s share what we’ve been up to and celebrate some of the milestones.

Storefront search
Last year, we mentioned how steep the learning curve was in just finding a storefront. The process has only gotten more nuanced and difficult since then but we’ve done our best to do it with advice from industry peers and legal counsel (as needed) in order to make the best decisions for our business. We’ve kept this all quiet because it’s a painful, tenuous process - not to mention lengthy.

As of now, we’ve signed a lease in Los Gatos, finalized storefront blueprints as close to our budget as possible, and received all permits. But we still have a long road before opening. We’re seeking one last push of investment to get us across the last hurdles.

You're the ideal fit if you:

Are a single investor or an investment group
Respect our brand and drive for quality & growth

Let's chat if this sounds like you and we'll share specifics about we're looking for, the opportunity for you, and our business plan & financials. If you have someone to refer, that would be greatly appreciated as well. Reach us both at orders@batch22bakery.com. Thank you <3

Now let's sum up 4 years in 1 graphic:

Pop-up events

Last year, pop-ups weren’t really a serious part of our business. Our bread & butter is still in deliveries and pre-order pickups. But this year when business was a little slower, we embraced the pop-ups as a way to get in front of more people. Last year we did ~16 total. This year we’ve one 11 to date, with 8 planned through August. Moving our pre-order system to Hotplate was one of our best decisions - saving everyone time and confusion.

Retail partnerships

We supply cookies for Coffee & Water Lab in San Jose, T4 in Palo Alto, Tea on Piedmont in Oakland, and Ponyo Foods in Milbrae. This part of our business has thankfully become easy and smooth (last year we were just starting and it was hard). So far the craziest, and dead serious, order inquiry we received as a result of a customer trying Pudges at Coffee & Water Lab, was 9,000 pudges due in Vegas in 2.5 weeks turnaround time. We couldn’t fulfill the order in the time we had (trust me, we tried)…. but small steps, baby. small steps.

We plan to expand retail partnerships after the storefront opens.

Flavor development

9 total flavors in 2020
20 total flavors in 2021
20 total flavors in 2022 (technically 6 new; 7 updated)
23 total flavors in 2023 (retired 1)
24 total flavors (1 update) to date

Our priorities shifted towards growth rather than menu expansion so I really miss being immersed in the development process! I’m currently working on passionfruit jasmine, and hope to release that soon. One thing that has and will never change is that I’ll always be 100% committed to creating cookies that wow you on the first bite - with accuracy, with flavor, just-right sweetness, and great texture.

I’m also pleased to say that our small pudges (smudges) that we do for large orders ($150+) are taking off! We'll have smudges on our menu for the first time as a one-off for our pop-up event at Nirvana Soul Cupertino on Saturday May 25th. We'll be giving out some swag as well :)

Personal Reflection

When Lawrance and I started the bakery in 2020, we said "let's see where it goes". As challenges have come our way (e.g. the pains of scaling up, long and difficult days on my feet, very busy holiday seasons), it's only strengthened our resolve to go as far as we can. We certainly feel anxious about how things will play out this year, but you bet we're all in no matter what happens. I know it's a big vague, but we've discussed worst case scenarios, and even if the worst happens, we'll still be baking cookies and trying to reach as many people as we can. I think that's as specific as I can get without putting my heart on my sleeve and showing you how much this work means to me.

As always, thank you so much for being here. We are buoyed by having the best customers ever and we never take that lightly.

- Amy & Lawrance