Melissa Ben-Ishay’s “love language” has at all times been baking. So, when she was fired from her promoting job at age 24, following her ardour into enterprise appeared like a perfect alternative. Her brother Brian Bushell inspired her to grab it. “We wound up creating an unimaginable product that makes folks completely satisfied throughout good instances and unhealthy,” Ben-Ishay says.
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Baked By Melissa. Co-founder and CEO Melissa Ben-Ishay.
Ben-Ishay launched the bite-sized cupcake model with co-founders Brian Bushell, Matt Baer, Danny Omari and Ben Zion in 2008.
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The corporate, which simply celebrated its “Candy 16,” has grown quite a bit through the years, changing into a multimillion-dollar enterprise with nationwide delivery and 13 retail areas within the New York Metropolis space and Boston.
Baked By Melissa has offered greater than 350 million cupcakes, constructed an internet group of three.8 million followers and expanded into new classes, partnering with main manufacturers similar to Oatly and Entenmann’s alongside the best way.
Ben-Ishay has additionally advanced as an entrepreneur and chief previously decade-plus. She stepped into the CEO position in 2019, simply earlier than the pandemic, and rose to viral TikTok fame in 2021 due to her Inexperienced Goddess Salad recipe. Her cookbook Come Hungry was printed earlier this yr and have become a New York Instances bestseller.
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The driving drive behind her success, in accordance with Ben-Ishay? Her skill to grasp what she does not know — and to show to individuals who do.
“I like to be unsuitable,” Ben-Ishay says. “I do not suppose I do know all the pieces. Actually, the older I get and the extra expertise I’ve underneath my belt, the much less I do know. And that’s one thing I do know with certainty. And I believe that’s an extremely necessary mindset for a pacesetter and an entrepreneur.”
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Baked By Melissa
Ben-Ishay instructed Entrepreneur about a couple of key cases when that mentality served Baked By Melissa effectively on its highway to success.
Counting on human capital within the enterprise’s early days
At first, Ben-Ishay batched cupcakes in her New York Metropolis condo kitchen and delivered them by subway, cold-calling catering firms to assist unfold the phrase. By the next yr, she’d opened Baked By Melissa’s first retail location, a small pickup window in Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood.
In these early days, all of Baked By Melissa’s earnings went straight again into the enterprise. The corporate did not take any outdoors funding and stays privately owned at this time. Ben-Ishay’s co-founders every introduced a singular, complementary ability set to the desk and supplied invaluable human capital, she says.
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In response to Ben-Ishay, her brother Bushell “is a born entrepreneur” who acknowledged Baked By Melissa’s potential even earlier than she did and served as the corporate’s CEO for eight years.
Baer created and designed all visible elements of the model in its early years, and Omari’s Cafe Bari housed Baked By Melissa’s first industrial kitchen and retail location on the nook of Spring Avenue and Broadway.
Moreover, Zion “is an unimaginable networker and was in a position to get our bite-size treats into each movie premiere, evening membership, crimson carpet occasion and movie star inexperienced room you possibly can consider,” Ben-Ishay recollects.
Considerably reluctantly moving into the CEO position
Ben-Ishay did not assume the CEO place till December 2019, greater than a decade after Baked By Melissa’s launch. “I did not suppose I wished to be CEO,” she admits. “I did not plan to grow to be CEO. There have been circumstances that led to my board appointing me CEO at a second’s discover.”
At first, Ben-Ishay was “terrified” to take the lead, particularly as the corporate headed towards its busy vacation season. Nevertheless, she additionally acknowledged the unimaginable alternative. Ben-Ishay rose to the problem — and it paid off.
“We went on to interrupt our vacation gross sales information that month,” Ben-Ishay recollects. “Two months later, we broke gross sales information once more with our busiest vacation, Valentine’s Day. Straight following, I led our workforce by way of a worldwide pandemic (whereas working from dwelling with two younger youngsters), and we got here out on the opposite facet stronger than ever.”
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The expertise taught Ben-Ishay the significance of advocating for your self and going after huge targets.
“It’s possible you’ll suppose it’s only a dream and never doable — however I wager it’s doable,” Ben-Ishay says. “I realized that we have to do the issues that scare us probably the most. I’ve at all times believed in approaching each problem as a chance. The position of CEO felt to date out of my consolation zone, however in the end, I realized and grew a lot.”
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Baked By Melissa
Going viral on TikTok with the Inexperienced Goddess Salad
Simply a few years after Ben-Ishay grew to become the corporate’s CEO, she took on one other influential position: social media content material creator. “I really like social media,” Ben-Ishay says. “I am very impressed by it, and I perceive the device it could possibly be for a enterprise.”
In response to Ben-Ishay, Baked By Melissa “missed the boat somewhat bit” when it got here to Instagram. The corporate launched earlier than the social media platform existed and did not instantly benefit from it. “It took a yr or so for me to grasp the chance,” Ben-Ishay explains, “and I made a silent promise to myself that the subsequent time a social media channel emerges, I’ll be taught it and use it straight away.”
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In 2020, TikTok gave her an opportunity to do exactly that. Though Ben-Ishay acknowledged the platform’s potential, she discovered it difficult to offer Baked By Melissa’s inventive workforce members with actionable suggestions on the content material they produced. That is when Ben-Ishay started experimenting with TikTok herself — recording herself making desserts or dinner for her household.
“Someday on a whim, I posted a salad, and it went viral [with] tens of millions and tens of millions of views,” Ben-Ishay says. “And I understood the chance for my enterprise instantly, which was to construct a group of people who come to us for one thing. Even when it is not showcasing the product we promote instantly, that relationship and connection I might have with so many individuals is one thing cash cannot purchase.”
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of Baked By Melissa
As she considers Baked By Melissa’s subsequent 16 years and past, Ben-Ishay is happy to proceed main the corporate’s progress.
“We now have a lot alternative,” she says. “We now have a product that makes folks completely satisfied throughout good instances and unhealthy, and we will get it to you completely with the best high quality, irrespective of the place you might be in the USA of America. I believe we’ve got a lot alternative to try this on a bigger scale.”
This text is a part of our ongoing Ladies Entrepreneur® collection highlighting the tales, challenges and triumphs of working a enterprise as a lady.
