Proud Mainer Brings Whoopie Pies to the World

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

[Music]

Now listen, I know it was just a few days ago that we talked about pie here on Side Hustle School, but pie is a great thing, okay? So today we are back with a different kind, different kind of story, different kind of pie. This feature is all about whoopie pies, a treat native to the great state of Maine. Or now that I say that, I don't know if it's technically native to the state of Maine, but I have always associated whoopie pies with Maine. I do know that there is a connection, and today's story is all about a proud manor who brings whoopie pies to the world.

So we're gonna go with that. And I have been to Maine for book events at least twice, had two really fun events at Longfellow Books in Portland, Maine, and it both stops. I had readers bring some whoopie pies to my events. Now that I think back on those occasions, to be honest, I'm not even sure I even got to try them, which is not because I didn't want to, but often people bring cupcakes or other treats to my book events, and I don't really get the chance to enjoy them because I'm the last person to leave. I'm a little occupied during the event, and then afterwards they're gone.

But the point is, more relevant to our story, I'm not the only person who appreciates these treats. Okay, so after her kids go off to college, this former stay-at-home mom begins baking whoopie pies in bulk. She now makes them by the thousands, if not the tens of thousands, selling more than $25,000 in creamy inventory each month. And she's found a way to ship them across the country. Pretty awesome.

Stay tuned for "Proud Manor Brings Whoopie Pies to the World." [Music]

For many years, Marsha Wiggins was a stay-at-home mom with two young kids and a pilot for a husband. In the little spare time she had, she taught aerobics at the local gym. But in 2012, things changed for Marsha. Both her kids had grown up and moved away to college. Her husband was off in a way, and there's only so many gym classes someone can go to.

She had a lot more time on her hands. This newfound free time stirred something in Marsha. She was inspired to pick up an old hobby. She began baking delicious treats for friends. More specifically, she started baking main whoopie pies.

A delicious single-serve treat of a dollop of cream pressed between two small cakes. Marsha was always trying to improve on the traditional recipe and create new flavors. As a consequence, her whoopie pies were a huge hit. She was constantly receiving requests to bake more, and many of her friends wanted to buy some as a gift for their friends. It was that latter point that got Marsha's mind baking.

The whoopies were a great hobby on their own, but perhaps she could transition them into a new side hustle. Just like that, fresh out of the oven came her new venture, Cape Whoopies. Her mission was to share the most delicious main whoopie pies made with the highest quality ingredients with people all over the country. Did I say all over the country? That's right, not just the great state of Maine.

From day one, Marsha wanted to share them nationwide, but from day one, Marsha also knew that shipping posed a problem. How would she keep the pies looking great and tasting fresh? They would also need to tolerate both hot and cold conditions in transit. To try and solve this problem, Marsha contacted a packaging expert. Together, they devised a test to ship sample pies across the country to see if they remained intact.

The expert recommended the type of packaging required to ship the pie safely. He also offered to escort each pie himself, but that proved to be cost prohibitive. So Marsha enlisted the help of friends who lived in both cold and hot climates. In exchange for their feedback, they would receive free Cape Whoopie pies. She placed the pies inside their packages ready for shipping, and a consultant included some special thermostats to track the temperature along the way.

The result was good news. Cape Whoopie pies arrived as if freshly made. Marsha now knew she could successfully sell them across the country and ship them in the mail without compromising quality. Next, she decided to create an online store using Shopify. She enlisted the help of a local designer, and once up and running, she took high-quality pictures of her Whoopies, adding several plugins to entice website visitors to buy, and then to gently upsell them.

In a short time, sales ramped up. It wasn't long until Marsha was making her Whoopies on a daily basis. This became difficult because she was still baking in her home kitchen, so she had to make a change. She decided to buy some commercial grade equipment and bake in her basement. In time, the business grew further, and that led to Marsha moving Cape Whoopies to a shared kitchen space.

It was similar to a shared office space, but for chefs and bakers. It was there that she settled into a groove and the baking continued. By mid-2016, Marsha had been at work for a few years and was generating a few thousand dollars a month in revenue. That year, she was contacted directly by Amazon, who wanted to list her Whoopies on their site. She jumped at the chance, and once again, demand increased.

Marsha was pushing the amenities of the shared kitchen to the max, and for the third time, something had to give. As luck would have it, a solution presented itself. She met a coffee roaster while working out of the shared space. Together, they decided to rent a storefront, roasting coffee in the front and baking delicious pies in the back. At more than 5,000 square feet, this space symbolized how much Cape Whoopies had grown.

The next phase of Cape Whoopies was now in the oven, and like baking a cake, profits began to rise. The grand opening of Marsha's first brick and mortar location took place in May 2018. For months beforehand, she warmed up her existing customers to excite them for the launch. The pie had been cast, and all of this work resulted in a huge crowd on opening day. With a lineup around the corner, hundreds of customers were exposed to Cape Whoopies for the very first time.

This new exposure led to huge sales, which, believe it or not, have not slowed down since. That brick and mortar store, which is never expected to be the main source of income, now makes up nearly 50% of total sales. The remainder of the sales come through the Cape Whoopies website, as well as Amazon.com and GoldBelly.com, an Etsy-like marketplace for designer foods. The business continues to flourish. Marsha's bringing in around $25,000 a month, with a profit margin of 50%.

She's also gone from scooping and baking all the cakes herself to having her husband help out, to now having a team of five working together to bring Cape Whoopies pies to the nation. [Music]

Well, you probably know that I love talking about pie, but listen, here's the greater point here. I mean, first of all, it is pie. It's awesome, it's amazing. We'd love to try it out sometime, either the next time I'm in Maine, or perhaps I'll place an order online.

But more broadly speaking, this is a reinvention story. And I think it's relevant for so many of our listeners. So many of our listeners are in a place of transition, or they would like to be. And in this story, Marsha was a stay-at-home mom. She had raised her kids, they went off to college.

She'd done some other stuff, like teaching the aerobics classes. But then she was like, you know what? I want to write a new story for myself. I want to do something different with the next part of my life. Maybe not the rest of my life, but just the next part of my life.

And that's what I would encourage you to think about, not necessarily the rest of your life, but the next phase of your life. What is coming up? Because that thing that you have done up till now, whatever it is, doesn't have to be the thing you do forever. You too, whether you're 13 years old or 70 years old, or maybe even on either side of that, you're not locked into your past. You're not even locked into your present.

And one of the reasons why I love the idea of starting little projects, like I talk about every day, and some of them grow on to be really big and some of them don't, is because they offer you an opportunity to do something different and to change it up and perhaps explore something different about yourself or something you've been interested in, or who knows, maybe even go on to make $25,000 a month. Anything is possible. And on that note, I will say farewell to you, not forever, I hope, but just for today. Our show notes are at sidehustleschool.com/696. That will include links to the Cape Whoopies Pie Empire.

I took a look at the website myself and my favorite flavor, at least I think so, from just looking at the website, is the Boston Cream Flavored Homage Whoopie Pie. That will go on my holiday list, and I look forward to bringing you another episode tomorrow. Thanks so much. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is "Sodasleschool." [Music]