FROM PASSION TO PROFIT 🍪 Paige Graham on Building a Thriving Bakery Business in New Zealand 🇳🇿

Summary

Small Business Quick WINS: From Passion to Profit with Paige Graham of Sweet as Choice Bakery

Presented by Thryv | Hosted by Jay Schwedelson

In this engaging episode of Small Business Quick WINS, host Jay Schwedelson sits down with Paige Graham, the dynamic founder of Sweet as Choice Bakery based in New Zealand. Released on February 18, 2025, this episode delves deep into Paige's entrepreneurial journey, offering invaluable insights and actionable strategies for small business owners aiming to turn their passions into profitable ventures.

---

Introducing Sweet as Choice Bakery

[02:40] Jay Schwedelson: "Before we get into, like, your story and everything, what is Sweet as Choice Bakery? What do you actually do?"

Paige Graham passionately shares her vision for Sweet as Choice Bakery, emphasizing her commitment to reviving traditional New Zealand baking. "Sweet as Choice Bakery is what I wanted to be—a very Kiwi New Zealand bakery. So we make all New Zealand classic baking items, things that our grandmas used to make for us, and you don't see as often on the shelves anymore. So I wanted to bring that nostalgia back to people and give things that they enjoy and they want."

---

Turning Passion into Profit

Jay acknowledges Paige's remarkable achievement in transforming a childhood passion into a thriving business. He inquires about the pivotal moment when she decided to take the leap.

[03:18] Jay: "You've done something that I think people dream about doing. You took something that you were passionate about as even a child growing up... How did you actually make the leap to do it?"

Paige candidly discusses the financial and skill-building challenges she faced. "A lot of it came down to finance that I would have started a lot earlier had I had the money to be able to start. So for me, it was just building my skills and building my bank account at the same time to be able to then launch into doing my own thing."

---

Launching the Bakery: Challenges and Learning

Nearly a year into her venture, Paige reflects on the initial stages of launching Sweet as Choice Bakery.

[04:34] Jay: "How long have you had the bakery now?"

[04:37] Paige: "Nearly a year. So next month it'll be a year that I've had the bakery. It's gone really fast. It feels like it's only been a few months, but, yeah, nearly a year."

When asked about the startup phase, Paige emphasizes the importance of adaptability. "There's always things that you think are going to work really well, and then until you actually do it and then start talking to customers, obviously tweak things and change things."

---

Importance of Customer Feedback and Adaptation

A significant portion of their discussion centers around the critical role of customer feedback in shaping business strategies.

[06:02] Jay: "Do you prioritize things like reviews online and marketing efforts? How do you get that feedback and then promote what you are selling?"

Paige underscores the necessity of direct customer interaction. "I definitely think that reviews and talking to the customer is the most important thing. Just because what I have in my head I think is good doesn't mean everyone else does."

She elaborates on her methods for gathering feedback, including direct conversations, encouraging reviews, and adapting products based on customer preferences.

---

Marketing Strategies and Customer Engagement

Effective marketing is a cornerstone of Sweet as Choice Bakery's success. Paige shares her multi-faceted approach to reaching and engaging customers.

[08:01] Jay: "Do you try to collect email addresses from people? How do you communicate your product offering to people?"

[08:01] Paige: "Social media is a big part of it. TikTok is the place where I think I probably get my most engagement... I definitely get people's email addresses from the website. I have a mailing list that people can sign up for..."

Paige highlights the importance of building a personal connection through platforms like TikTok and maintaining ongoing communication via email newsletters. "It's just kind of trying to direct people to social media to keep up with me, to keep that personal connection online so then they feel like they can talk to me as well."

---

Managing Time and Business Operations

Balancing multiple responsibilities poses a significant challenge for small business owners. Paige discusses her strategies for effective time management and operational efficiency.

[09:14] Jay: "How do you handle all of that? How do you do that and not lose your mind?"

[09:14] Paige: "It is really hard to monitor your personal time and work time... I definitely make a lot of lists and work through the lists of things and try to bulk do things as well."

One of her key tools in managing administrative tasks is Thrive, a business management software sponsored by the podcast. Paige shares how Thrive has been instrumental in streamlining her operations: "Thrive saves me so much time in doing that. And I'm lucky that I found it right at the beginning of when I started my business... Now take me less than two minutes [to create invoices]."

---

Future Plans and Growth Strategies

Looking ahead, Paige is steadfast in her commitment to expanding Sweet as Choice Bakery.

[11:30] Jay: "Are you now saying, we're going to grow this thing or you still feel like, I don't know, I don't know if we're going to make it to year two."

[11:30] Paige: "Definitely. Growing is my absolute goal. This has been my lifelong dream. So even if it wasn't working, I would still say that it's growth because I want it to work."

Paige outlines her plans to diversify her offerings, including introducing a gluten-free kitchen to cater to customers with specific dietary needs. She emphasizes the importance of focusing on successful areas while continuously seeking improvement in others.

---

Signature Products and Popular Items

Every bakery has its standout items, and Sweet as Choice Bakery is no exception. Jay probes into what customers rave about the most.

[13:36] Paige: "Our most popular is probably our melting moments. So it's like two vanilla cookies sandwiched together with a lemon icing in between. And the cookies melt in your mouth as soon as you bite into it."

These indulgent treats, available in various flavors like passion fruit, chocolate, and caramel, encapsulate the nostalgic and high-quality ethos of Paige's bakery.

---

Conclusion and Where to Follow

As the conversation wraps up, Paige provides listeners with avenues to connect and stay updated with Sweet as Choice Bakery.

[14:10] Paige: "So we're on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok at Sweet as Choice Bakery. And we've also got a website as well that you can sign up to a mailing list and get emails from us, too."

Jay expresses his enthusiasm for Paige's products and anticipates future collaborations, hinting at potential international shipping in the works.

---

Key Takeaways

1. Passion and Preparation: Turning a passion into a profitable business requires both heartfelt commitment and practical preparation, including financial planning and skill development.

2. Adaptability is Crucial: Being open to feedback and willing to pivot based on customer preferences can significantly enhance business success.

3. Effective Marketing Drives Growth: Leveraging multiple marketing channels, especially social media, helps in building a loyal customer base and maintaining ongoing engagement.

4. Operational Efficiency Matters: Utilizing the right tools, such as business management software, can streamline operations and free up valuable time for strategic planning.

5. Diversification for Sustainability: Expanding product offerings and catering to niche markets, like gluten-free options, can open new revenue streams and cater to a broader audience.

---

This episode serves as an inspiring blueprint for small business owners, illustrating how passion, coupled with strategic planning and customer-centric approaches, can lead to thriving enterprises. Paige Graham's journey with Sweet as Choice Bakery is a testament to the power of dedication, adaptability, and effective marketing in building a successful business.

Follow Sweet as Choice Bakery on:

• Facebook: Sweet as Choice Bakery
• Instagram: Sweet as Choice Bakery
• TikTok: Sweet as Choice Bakery
• Website: SweetAsChoiceBakery.com

Tune in to Small Business Quick WINS weekly for more stories, strategies, and success tips from top small business leaders.

Transcript

[Jay Schwedelson]

Just want to jump in here real quick and let you know that this podcast is exclusively presented by Thrive. Thrive is an amazing tool that small businesses, thousands of small businesses leverage to run their business in so many ways. And they have this incredible thing called Marketing Center. Now, if you're not familiar with Marketing center from Thrive, great news. For the start of the year, they're doing a special offer right here of a 25% off discount of their Thrive Marketing Center. This thing allows you to run all your ads, boost your online presence, understand all of your customer interactions, and if you want to check this out and get this discount, it is super easy. All you got to do is go to thrive.com that's t h r y v dot com wins. That's thrive th r y v dot com slash wins. And I'm telling you, your marketing is at the center of your business. It what, it's what drives your business. So check out Marketing center from Thrive [e-mail] wins. Welcome to Small Business Quick Wins, presented by Thrive. This podcast is exclusively designed for small business leaders like you. Prepare to get invaluable insights from every episode, equipped with actionable tips made for immediate implementation in your business. Tune in as we feature firsthand lessons from fellow small business owners and thought leaders. I'm your host, Jay Schwedelson. Over the last 25 years, I've grown multiple small businesses that have generated over $300 million in revenue. Along the way, I've learned pitfalls to avoid and quick wins that can transform your business immediately. I'm excited to share it all. So if you're ready to win on Main street, let's dig into this episode. We are back for Small Business Quick Wins, presented by Thrive. And today's episode's gonna make you hungry. I know it. Why we have an amazing person here. We have Paige Graham, who is the founder of Swedish Choice Bakery. Now, the amazing thing about this is Paige is coming into this podcast all the way from New Zealand. Her bakery crushes it in New Zealand. And we're going to learn all about how to get a small business going, things that you can overcome. But really, the whole point of this episode is that I want to have a cupcake. So I said, who can I invite on the show? And I found Paige, and this is the perfect person. So, Paige, welcome to the podcast.

[Paige Graham]

Thank you for having me.

[Jay Schwedelson]

Well, I appreciate you being here, and I need to get to New Zealand, and if I come there, I'm going to come to your bakery. It's going to be Amazing. So before we get into, like, your story and everything, what is sweetest Choice Bakery? What do you actually do?

[Paige Graham]

Sweet as Choice Bakery is what I wanted to be. A very Kiwi New Zealand bakery. So we make all New Zealand classic baking items, things that our grandmas used to make for us, and you don't see as often on the shelves anymore. So I wanted to bring that nostalgia back to people and give things that they enjoy and they want.

[Jay Schwedelson]

Well, first of all, I love that because I love my grandma's stuff that she made, and I miss it. So. Excellent. I'm all in. But you've done something that I think people dream about doing. You took something that you were passionate about as even a child growing up. You did study it in school, and then you were actually able to turn it into your career. And turning a passion into a career is an amazing thing. So take us through. How did it happen? How did you actually make the leap to actually do it?

[Paige Graham]

Well, a lot of it came down to finance that I would have started a lot earlier had I had the money to be able to start. So for me, it was just building my skills and building my bank account at the same time to be able to then launch into doing my own thing. So I just spent basically my whole life just keeping on building knowledge, the things of what to do, what not to do in business, building my skills in the kitchen until I got to a point where I felt comfortable in doing it and that I felt like that I could do it successfully now just with that backing of money behind me as well, but also just that I felt comfortable in myself and my skills as well.

[Jay Schwedelson]

So how long have you had the bakery now?

[Paige Graham]

Nearly a year. So next month it'll be a year that I've had the bakery. It's gone really fast. It feels like it's only been a few months, but, yeah, nearly a year.

[Jay Schwedelson]

So when you first launched it, did you just get everything right and correct out of the gate? Or if you were to go back 11 months ago and say, okay, now that I've been through this, I would have maybe done this a little bit differently at the beginning. Did you get it all right, or were there any things that maybe in retrospect, you're like, I probably should have done that a little differently.

[Paige Graham]

There's always things that you think are going to work really well, and then until you actually do it and then start talking to customers, obviously tweak things and change things. I think as a whole, my business model I got right and what I wanted to do having a clear identity and presenting that to the customer. But there's parts of the business that obviously I thought were going to do really well and haven't. And then I kind of switched and changed paths or added something different to the business and then that's been the successful part. So I think as long as you're up to changing the course of what you're doing, instead of just being like, well this is what I want and keeping on persisting even though it's not what the customer wants, I think that having that ability to adapt is definitely what's needed.

[Jay Schwedelson]

So do you prioritize things like reviews online and marketing efforts? Like how is it a, how do you get that feedback and then how do you go back to the market and promote what it is that you're selling?

[Paige Graham]

I definitely think that reviews and talking to the customer is the most important thing. Just because what I have in my head I think is good doesn't mean everyone else does. So I always, when I get customers coming in, I always ask how they found us to know which channels I'm using are correct. Whether it's social media, being at little farmers markets or classic media like in newspapers or print or things like that, or if it's word of mouth. And then from there I always encourage customers, well, let me know what you think, tell me what you thought about it to try and encourage them. Then after to tell me what they liked and what they didn't like, especially if it's a new product. At the moment I'm working on setting up this gluten free kitchen to have a separate allergen friendly kitchen. So I've been trialing a few different products and talking to actual people with celiac or gluten free diets and being like, well tell me what you think needs to change or is it good? How the way it is. So it's definitely just having that clear dialogue with people and being out in the market yourself, not having staff that you're relying on to talk to people? I do everything myself so I'm able to talk directly to them and get that instant feedback.

[Jay Schwedelson]

I think that's so important for small business owners to hear about this idea of staying connected to your customers and your new customers and being out there because without that you kind of lose that touch. You kind of lose the pulse on what you need to be focusing in on. Do you also do marketing? Do you try to collect email addresses from people? How do you communicate your product offering to people?

[Paige Graham]

Yeah, definitely. Social media is A big part of it. TikTok is the place where I think I probably get my most engagement of showing people the personal side and getting that personal engagement that they feel like they know me. So then you kind of have that dialogue. I definitely get people's email addresses from the website. Like I have a mailing list that people can sign up for and if I ever do any big events that I always try and get as much information from the customer so then I can follow up afterwards. It is hard on a regular basis, like in the shop, to kind of get all that information from people. So it's just kind of trying to direct people to social media to keep up with me, to keep that personal connection online so then they feel like they can talk to me as well.

[Jay Schwedelson]

So you are involved with the actual products, the baking of things, you're involved with setting up these new kitchens, you're going to farmers markets, you're talking to customers, you're focused on collecting email addresses and posting on social media. How, I mean, do you have extra hours in the day? I mean, how do you. How do you handle all of that? Like, what do you. How do you do that and not lose your mind?

[Paige Graham]

It is really hard to monitor your personal time and work time. And it's definitely something that I've struggled with right in the beginning and prioritizing the business because I need it to work before I prioritize myself. So it is definitely hard. I definitely make a lot of lists and work through the lists of things and try and bulk do things as well. So I'll sit down on one day and do my social media. I'll sit down and do something else another day and have a focus of the day. But one of my saving graces is definitely being Thrive in the admin side of things. That I honestly just spent way too much time making invoices and trying to collate people's data and how to connect and reach with them. But Thrive saves me a lot of time in doing that. And I'm lucky that I found it right at the beginning of when I started my business, I didn't know how to do the Google side of things and that's what I needed help with. And I stumbled across Thrive and I was like, do I need all of this to start with? This has got so much that I don't need. But then within a month or two, I was pretty much using all aspects of Thrive and that saves me so much time invoices that would take me a couple of hours to put together. Now take me less than two minutes. So things like that, that are kind of like my helping hand, giving me like another person without having to pay for another person.

[Jay Schwedelson]

No, that is so important as a small business owner. I mean, time is the most valuable commodity you have and finding ways to be more efficient allows you to scale your business. So love hearing that. So I'm curious, you're about on the cusp of the end of year one. Number one, when you hit year one because you have a bakery, you better have some amazing cake to celebrate year one because you're a bakery. That's what you do. But what I really want to know is, are you now saying, okay, we've gotten over the hump, we are now planning for our next five years. Are you now saying, I'm in it, I know how to make this a success, we're going to grow this thing or you still feel like, I don't know, I don't know if we're going to make it to year two.

[Paige Graham]

Definitely. Growing is my absolute goal. This has been my lifelong dream. So even if it wasn't working, I would still say that it's growth because I want it to work. So yeah, I definitely keep looking at the areas of my business that aren't doing as well as the other ones and, well, how can I make it successful? Is it worth putting my time and energy into it or should I focus on an area that is doing well and try and push it even more? So definitely having to sit down and reflect on all of the areas of the business. We do a lot in terms of like we go to market, we have the website, we do cakes, we do catering, we do kids baking classes. And then now I'm wanting to add the gluten free side of things on. So it's a lot of different aspects and you do have to try and manage your time and your energy into things so it's working out where I can keep growing and keep doing what people want me to do as well as what I enjoy doing. And then that's kind of the recipe for success.

[Jay Schwedelson]

Oh, no pun intended. Recipe for success. So I gotta tell you, I am a big dummy. I'll tell you why. I was on your website and I saw all this stuff that you are making for Valentine's Day and I was like, wait a minute, they celebrate Valentine's Day in New Zealand? And I'm like, why don't I know? Should I know that? Is Valentine's Day a big deal in New Zealand?

[Paige Graham]

It's definitely becoming a Big thing because we definitely see what everyone else does around the world. So things like Valentine's Day and like Halloween are definitely things that are becoming bigger. It's only been probably, maybe in the last five years that we've started having, like, Black Friday sales. So we definitely see, like, what other countries are doing and what we can kind of steal and make big here. So, yeah, it's not a huge thing, but it's definitely becoming a big thing thing here.

[Jay Schwedelson]

So do you ship to the United States yet?

[Paige Graham]

We don't currently, just because of our items being on that perishable side. Just the length of time it takes to deliver. But it's definitely something that I want to work on and getting the product out of New Zealand as well. That's just working with the different shipping networks and getting the cost right and the shipping as well, that it doesn't cost a huge amount.

[Jay Schwedelson]

So what is like your most popular item? That I probably will have no idea when you tell me. Oh, this is it. My grandmother made this. What is the number one selling item in the bakery?

[Paige Graham]

Our most popular is probably our melting moments. So it's like two vanilla cookies sandwiched together with a lemon icing in between. And the cookies melt in your mouth as soon as you bite into it. So they're most soft, buttery, vanillary cookies. And then it just melts and you have that nice tartness in between. And people do different flavors as well, like passion fruit or chocolate or caramel. But traditionally just a nice lemon icing. It's just a nice classic.

[Jay Schwedelson]

I'm in. I'm coming. I'm coming to New Zealand. I am going to be at Swedish Choice Bakery. I'm having that. Very excited. All right, I want you to tell everybody where can they follow you on all the different social media accounts? We're going to put it in the show notes. Ever going to track you down, but how does everybody find you?

[Paige Graham]

So we're on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok at Sweet as Choice Bakery. And we've also got a website as well that you can sign up to a mailing list and get emails from us, too.

[Jay Schwedelson]

Amazing. Well, I'm now hungry, but I really appreciate you sharing everything. I'm excited when you ship to the United States and, you know, best of luck with everything and excited to watch your journey.

[Paige Graham]

Thank you so much.

[Jay Schwedelson]

Well, that was fun and great news. We got way more where that came from. Subscribe. Make sure you get the latest episode each week for more actionable tips from today's top small business leaders and hook us up with a five star review. If you've got at least one new idea you may consider using. Lastly, if you want to ensure you never miss a message from your customers Again, check out Thrive.comWin to get your free account with Command center today.