Goal Setting

The new market season has begun, and it's time for setting some goals for the season. The first goal? To get the ol' blog back up and running. It has been almost ten months since our last post. Yikes! We plan to take some pictures of the new booth tomorrow so that you can see what we've been up to. A lot has changed since last season, and we're excited to show you the new and improved Pupcakery!

As far as goals for the girls, last year Maia set a goal to earn enough money to buy herself a laptop. She exceeded her goal and brought home her new laptop (along with several other goodies) sometime in December. This year her goal is to save enough to buy courtside seats for the family to a home Blazer game. I like this girl's style!

Ainsley has officially joined the business team this year by adding her own line of dog-related products (watch future postings for more info.). She has set a goal to save enough to buy herself a Nintendo DSi. This is the first big money-saving goal she has set for herself, and this will be the first major electronic purchase for her as well. It's going to be a big summer for all of us!

Finally, Tim and I will not be teaching summer school this year as we have in summers past. Rather than look for other jobs, we have decided to put more time and energy into helping the girls develop the business and see where this little adventure takes us. Who knows, maybe we'll be setting up shop in your neck of the woods one of these days!

For future updates on what is new with The Pupcakery you can check on us here at the blog as well as on Facebook.

More Good Press

The Pupcakery has made quite a splash at the Astoria Sunday Market this summer, and we continue to hear "we read about you in the paper!" The first article was written in the "In One Ear" section of The Daily Astorian. The article told about the business and the award Maia won through Harlem Hip-Hop Tours earlier this summer (see past post for details). It had a nice picture of Maia in her booth at the market and generated a lot of talk.

Since that time she has also been written up in Bow-Wow!, a newspaper for dog lovers on the Oregon coast and the Coast River Business Journal. The word is out, and it is bringing in the customers! Maia isn't letting all the attention go to her head, and continues to do what needs to be done to get the dogs their treats. Ainsley has also done her share of helping with the baking and helping the customers in the market booth.

Thank you to all who read our blog and support The Pupcakery. This has proved to be a fabulous learning experience for both girls!

Next Market Date: June 28 (revised)

Maia has been selected to dance in the Astoria Music Festival's performance, "The Fairy Queen." The show is being choreographed by Catherine Turocy from the New York Baroque Dance Company, and the girls will perform with a live orchestra and several opera singers. Maia is playing the part of a fairy.

Due to the amount of time scheduled for rehearsals and the performance, she will not be able to have her booth at the Astoria Sunday Market on June 21. She will return to the market on June 28. She will also be set up in front of the Natural Nook in Seaside, OR during the Art Walk on July 4, from 5-8pm. She will be selling her usual biscuits along with some star-spangled treats for the furry friends in your lives. Hope to see you there!

To Market, To Market

Yesterday the girls took their product to market for the first time. We arrived at the market square at 8:30 to set up. The set up took about 45 minutes, and customers started wandering through around 9:30. The market didn't officially open until 10:00, but Maia had already made her first sale by 9:50. Overall it was a great day. They sold 28 pupcakes, 12 Hefty Howlers, 32 large bags of biscuits, and 17 small bags of biscuits. The traffic was pretty steady all day with a bit of a lull between 1:00 and 2:00 in the afternoon. Ainsley woreher cupcake baker's hat and apron and passed out samples. Maia handled the customers and took in the money. They came home with a full cashbox and a pretty empty set of biscuit bins. Now it's time to start baking for next week's market!

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

We are proud to announce that Maia has won the top cash prize of $100 for her Pupcakery business plan in a contest through Harlem Hip-Hop Tours. We purchased the Entrepreneurship Workbook from H3 Tours to work through the important aspects of building a business. The workbook included all of the important components of starting a business, including: target customers, competition, marketing and distribution strategies, and profit projections. Maia completed the workbook and used the results to assemble her own business plan. She submitted her plan in the H3 Tours' monthly contest, and she won! She beat out 25 other plans! Congratulations, Maia! Click here to read more.

Introducing....HEFTY Howlers

Well, we're back after a long month off from posting. Our days have been filled with all that comes with finishing up another school year, and there has been very little time for The Pupcakery. We did, however, develop another fabulous product.....the HEFTY Howlers. These biscuits come from the same recipe that is used for our Happy Howlers, but they're much, much bigger. Our good friend Jackson agreed to model with the new product for us in exchange for some free biscuits. Thank you, Jackson!

Another Satisfied Customer

It's always nice to hear from another happy howler. Here is an email we recently received from a four-legged friend:

My name is Little Richard and I am a seven year old standard poodle and I am very delighted with your Happy Howler Pup Cakes; good job. You can see in the attached pictures that I love them. Please give my regards to Cato and Darius.

Just look at Little Richard waiting so patiently. What a gentleman!

Thank you for your email! To our other customers, we would love to see more photos of your photogenic pooches. Send them our way and we'd be happy to add you to our blog.