Teresa Ging of Sugar Bliss

Kind of fun and if you remember I think the first time that we

actually met it was right after Co kind of reopened up uh World business Chicago

put on the Chicago adventure Summit and then they did a first ever bus tour which was awesome that was so cool yeah

had so much fun um in fact I selfishly posted a photo from that event in like

like last week even though two years old but it was was me standing in front of all the trophies and it's still like

everyone was like oh man that was awesome that was a cool yeah um but I remember I think we got stuck next to each well you got stuck I had the

opportunity I don't feel like we got stuck sit next to you you guys suck sitting next to me and some great people there

and uh yeah and we were talking about all kinds of stuff one of the things was how often we go back to the office

obviously having different types of businesses and there was a conversation about a fish oh my gosh my fish yes so I

would love to awkwardly start yes our conversation oh my God that's so crazy

that you remember that well so I was gifted a beta fish by a friend um who uh

is also in my industry and so he has an aquarium at his house now he has one in his office but he had an aquarium

because it's relaxing and so I made he showed me the video to me and I was like I want a fish but he has a saltwater

fish I mean this thing is gigantic so he chose fighting fish continue so I was just like and so he brings me a beta

fish and I I can barely keep a plant I mean I have a dog but that's a different but I mean I was just like how do I keep

this fish and so he bought me the aquarium like a little square box with the beta don't buy another beta with it

you know here's some food here's the instructions so um anyways this fish became our mascot at Sugar Bliss and we

called him hbic head in charge or had beta in charge and he was spunky you

know I mean he and I mean he was next to the microwave so I don't know he probably got some like gam rays and stuff like he probably was walking

around the store at night when we were there super but yeah he was our fish but he unfortunately passed away oh no I

know and I've been pondering my staff is like we can't get another one because like you got two attached like actually

side note the day he he had these Bubbles and he would just lay at the bottom of the bubbles yeah and like that

day I was like look he's like sleeping you know whatever cuz I thought fish Di and they float my fish did not float it

was down there so at night I was like it's still not moving is he chilling is he sleeping he passed away so but at

least I didn't have to see him floating cuz I think I would be more traumatized so I had to um you know let him go so I

have not found another in my I we I was just talking to my friend he's like I think I'm going to get you another fish

but it was nice to have a fish at the bakery so yeah that is awesome so funny

that you remembered well I remembered it because I think I think I triggered the conversation because I had made the I an

a common phrase for me when people say hey do you go back to the office much I'm like I'm going back out to feed the

fish but I don't really have any fish at but it to me it was more like a a metaphor for make sure everything's kind

of doing its thing or whatever um so fortunately yours is not a metaphor and

while the fish may have found a better place it's not a metaphor for the way

the business has been yeah yeah um so with that would love to De delve into

the world of sugar Bliss um and I'll start by saying and

even when I uh we talked the other day about coming on this podcast I was

babbling off Industries I go bakeries and and it just didn't feel appropriate

for all that I know that you do to say Bakery yeah yeah even though the heart

of it is you are baking foods Etc um so i' love to just kind of start in just

kind of a overview about the business for those folks who haven't heard of sugar Bliss yeah um and we can start

there yeah um so I been in Chicago for

since 1996 I mean almost like what 30 plus years uh or 30 years um so I grew

up in Texas came to Chicago uh went to um University of Chicago majored in

economics and statistics something B um and thought I was going to you know go

and I mean I I I do run a business but I thought I was going to be working and finance the corporate world forever um

so you know when I graduated you Chicago was like you either do investment Bing or Consulting and so I got a job at

investment Bing at be Sterns oh wow in Chicago so I ended up working in the Chicago office for about a year and a

half and that was in 2000 and unfortunately I got most of my analysts

you know um but my group got laid off with the tech Bubble Burst you know oh yeah yeah so got laid off um and then

that was like in October of 2001 like right after you know September 11th too you know and so I ended up finding

another job at a private Equity Firm so um it was gtcr which is Golder rer yeah

oh yeah yeah so I worked there which our former governor was working there you know um before I became Governor those

offices are incredible yes so it was at the Sears Tower and um so I worked there

for about a year and a half as a research analyst there and and then I you know decided briefly I wanted to go

back to invest in banking for a small boutique firm and then I was like what am I doing working 90 hours again um so

then I found another job working at credit Swiss in equity research so I ended up um doing equity research for

about um my last two and a half years there um I uh did I focus in different

uh food space and um Broadline so I did like package Foods I did um food retail

like Albertson Safeway Kroger and Food Service like Cisco not even knowing that I would ever be

having my product in one of those retailers are using a food service like and I covered Office Depot and Lowe's

and anyway so I got a lot of experience just understanding like companies like

the financial statements like margins slotting fees all that stuff not even knowing i' would be in that so then you

know as we all have long days at work I was working um in the New York office

that time or I was in Chicago but I was visiting New York I was and my friend was uh sifting powdered sugar to make

cupcakes and I was like can I try that and so she gave me it and I like did some motions

and I mean literally was like my aha moment I was like you know what I think I need a break I've been working six

years non-stop like 80 90 hours I don't even remember my 20s and I was like I

just need to go and do something different so I had a friend that was in

at ctis West she went to before she was going to business school she went to L Cordon for a culinary program okay and

so I was like you know I know they have a baking program like Julia Child you know so that's to mention Paris yes it's

Paris and so I looked at um a bunch of schools so I even looked at some schools in Chicago but I was like I don't need

an associate degree I just need to know how to bake and so I you know it was everyone's always like was it hard to

get in loraa I'm like no it was harder to get into your Chicago than L like you

just so I I just did they had three levels so I just did the basic Peary program it was like a a month and a half

program like that was squashed together over you know 3 months was squashed into month and a half so I did that you know packed

my bags went to Paris I think my boss thought I lost my mind probably but I mean it was such a great experience like

I came back and I was like I think I want to start a bakery and I originally wanted to start like a whole like sugar

Bliss like Patisserie laminated dough Brios all that stuff and I was like you know what you have six years of finance

and a month and a half of pastry experience why don't you pick a category

a big good area and be good at that versus doing everything so cupcakes was kind of the trend so I said you know

let's do cupcakes so um and cake will never go away so so I started just testing cupcakes and recipes um I lived

in the loop at the time too and you know when it was at people's birthdays there was no way we were always like let's

just go out to lunch you know nobody was bringing in desserts you know um so I also saw that as an opportunity too and

so um I started testing recipes and in my gym and My Condo building I put a

sign like looking to start a bakery like need testers and had a list of people

that started wed to taste and I had a weight list at some point I remember you know like so they would test like two

different cupcakes a week and you know tell me you like the frosting you know the cake and so um end up you know it's

it's hard to find a brick of morar store for 1,000 square ft you get beat out by national chains and finally found some

something and of course it takes about a year to go through permit process all that stuff so I end up opening the store

in January 5th which was two days ago 2009 so I started the business in 2007

but I didn't um open the brick and mortar store until 2009 got it yeah and

so um yeah so I opened in the heart of Chicago winter um we're in a recession

and now people have bowed off sweets for at least a week so yeah easy easy so

yeah so um plus your test Market are people working out every day yes exactly and I'm like and I've never opened a

bakery and I only worked at a bakery for like a couple months so I'm like okay here we go you know so um so yeah so I

opened January 5th 2009 the retail store um and then over the years we added

product lines we added cake pops we added macaroons then in 2016 I opened my

second store at The Palmer House and because we're about um like three blocks

away from each other I had to call it something different so I called it sugar Bliss

Patisserie um which is hard for people like my husband is like sh should I pick

you up at the rotisserie and I'm like no it's called The Patisserie you know but so anyways so the sugar Bliss original

store just did cupcakes The Patisserie end up being my first Vision so I end up adding cookies and brownies and you know

all the different offerings and so we had two stores and then and then we had

a power outage at one of the store for the first store for about a month and we ended up like transferring all of our

store to the second location and I was like this is dumb that I have two stores and I was cannibalizing it and that was

one of my concerns which one do I walk into yeah and which and am I going to cannibalize myself so I literally

cannibalized Myself by opening two closeth and you know not so anyways um

so when our lease ended in 2020 I 2019 I was like you know what I just

need one store I don't need two stores I'm I'm 100% ownership still I was

running back and forth didn't even know what store I was at what day of the week so um I fortunately did not renew my

lease and Co happened so then I wasn't stuck with like you know and you know of

course the loop it it has come back but you know I don't need two stores and so it's different yes

so gosh it's hard to talk about 17 years squashed into like but you know when Co

happened I laid off all my staff um I was there back to square one when I first opened my store and I was like I

not Square even before square one and um you know I was like well if nobody is going back to the office which is our

Core Business of corporate catering what how am I going to get our product anywhere so said hey like I need to

figure out something in our product line that I can make shelf stable we also got approached by a major airline that was

interested in our brand but we didn't have have anything shelf stable so the wheels started turning like what am I

going to do so um and I got into this cohort program from the wbdc which is

the women's business development program okay and so they have this cohort um called top shelf which is sponsored by

Walgreens and it's just to learn how to be get your product into retailers merchandising all that stuff it's like

yeah you know I have all the time to listen learn I was like all my my whole day during Co when I had like maybe 10

customers a day was listening webinars and being part of cohorts you know I'm sure like many other entrepreneurs out

there so can I ask a quick question about that so one of the things you know when people are starting becoming

entrepreneurs and starting all this stuff for folks not going through it it seems like oh my God how do you take all that how do you figure those things out

what you tend to find along the way is there's different kind of resources you can kind of tap into how did you

discover this cohort because I know it's a part of your story um and would just would just love to know because I think

it'd be helpful for folks that are even know the things are available yeah I mean when I started back in 2007 6 you

know like I was on my way to pastry school and my flight got delayed and I was sitting you know in the airport

lounge just waiting you know to for her flight and this woman and she was probably we are the same age she's like

oh you know what are you going to do in Paris are you traveling I was like I'm going to pastry school you know I think I might want to start a bakery she's

like oh you should look at the wbdc when you come back and so I wrote that down so when I came back to Chicago I looked

it up and then um you you know did like some course there so that's how I became

so I've known wbdc since day one you know um and um so when I first started

there was WDC there's like SBA score but now like 17 years later there's so many

more there's like the Illinois sbdc there's so many sdc's all over

neighborhoods there's so many entrepr like I feel like you can be there's from like

established entrepreneurship programs to like beginning how to get your LLC to you know everything like it's so great

you know that it's really like the community has built up you know I mean like World business Chicago like there's

so many things to help entrepreneurs you know different Industries almost it's almost overwhelming yes I tried this

year anytime I'm I'm stuck sitting at my computer doing the work from home thing I'm like I know there's a lunch

somewhere going on and a thing going on and uh and our mutual friend uh Ean

I mean he's always taking his picture something if I don't go like I'm like is

there someone I'm going to meet that I like and there are times when I'm like I'm not going to go and then I'm like oh my God I'm so glad I went you know so I

can tell my fish story too yeah yeah so yeah so I mean I just um yeah I mean

it's just there's so many resources and that's how you know I mean I I'm I apply on so many newsletters I mean during Co

we got so many grants I applied to every single Grant I mean I got a grant from Alibaba and we don't even and sell stuff

on Alibaba but hey if you want to give me $10,000 I will take it and help my business you know so Grant application

is I think a lot of people think of that so smart I did door Dash um local goods

and also did restaurant because we're also restaurant you know so like going back to it it's like I have cpg a

restaurant I have food service so it's like anything food related like I Can Fly for a grant you know like when the

rrf came out which was the restaurant revitalization and I knew that Grant would go I mean it was money that was

you know not you don't have to pay back and I was like that's going to go very quick I was like nobody talked to me I

got like 10 minutes to file it and like they shut it down very quickly you know and so but that actually those grants

helped my business survive you know I mean we weren't making a lot of money you know I mean my business is Corporate I wasn't in a neighborhood you know what

I mean my neighborhood was people coming to work and nobody was going to work you know and you know again it's not at full

capacity and now 5 years later or has it been five I don't even know yeah almost five yeah we're 2 I know I know it's

like yeah last year before no that was a while ago I know exactly uh it really messes me when I when I see a a kid yeah

and I'm like wow your kid so like I remember we had them in 2020 yeah that's years I know well I sometimes I have

customers come in I'm like oh you know you're they're like my my kid is now like late 20s I was like oh my God

that's you know they've been like but they grew up on sugar Bliss yeah yeah yeah but it's now they're like older you

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