Today we’d like to introduce you to Erin and Dave Downes.
Erin and Dave, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Dave and I met at our corporate job 20 years ago and married 10 years later. We love to work together and wanted to find something that we could do as a couple. We both like to bake and had always enjoyed whipping up old family recipes. Friends and family kept telling us to sell our goods but we never took it seriously until one day we found out that in New Hampshire, they allow homestead kitchens that are inspected and licensed by the State. We opened up specializing in cupcakes as E & D’s Cupcakery about 5 years ago. We mostly sold our cupcakes at various farmers markets around southern New Hampshire as well as private orders. We expanded our client base and ended up moving into a Commercial Kitchen in Dover, NH. We then also expanded our menu to include many different baked goods and changed our name to E & D’s Baking Co. We sold in a few local stores as well as the farmers markets and private orders. After 2 years, I became ill with a chronic disease that made it almost impossible to continue baking.
We made the tough decision to close our business down. With treatment after about a year I was feeling better and we both agreed we really missed baking and our little company. We decided to reopen the business in 2016, but keeping it a state licensed homestead kitchen. We do private orders, mostly birthdays and weddings as well as specialize in New England favorites like whoopie pies, no bake cookies, donuts (baked and potato), fudge, breads and breakfast items. Many local businesses will order our products to serve to their clients on weekends or special events. At this point, we are looking to expand into retail space and are actively looking for that perfect space.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Over the past 5 years we have had a few obstacles to get over. It seemed that when we opened the bakery, shortly after it was the new trend. There were many that opened and competition was great. It was a lot of trial and error trying to find the right medium we wanted to move our business to….continue farmers markets, try to get into stores, keep it private order and local, etc. We are also along the old fashioned bakeries you remember growing up…sugary sweets made with flour during a time when eating healthy and gluten free had become prevalent in society. Biggest of all was my health issue. This was something we had not expected and it was a really tough decision for us to close our business due to it as we were just picking up steam. However, we felt if we were not producing the very best product we could offer during that time, it would only hurt our business in the end.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about E & D’s Baking Company – what should we know?
We specialize in old New England favorites! Our biggest sellers are our Whoopie Pies and No Bake Cookies. We also make cakes, cupcakes, brownies, bars, cookies, lemon squares, breads and fudge. Dave makes amazing Needhams, which is a popular candy from Maine….coconut filling with a mashed potato base dipped in chocolate….if you haven’t had one you really should, they are amazing! Another popular item from Maine he makes is potato donuts which are fried. Ours is just the basic flavor with glaze but they are very light for a fried donut and it’s easy to eat too many. We also make baked donuts which are more like the old fashioned type. We love that all of our products are made from scratch and are made fresh to order. We like to work with our clients to personalize what they are looking for based on the occasion. We also offer free delivery for orders that are within a 15 mile radius of Raymond, NH.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Providing great customer service and producing a quality product! We try to respond as quickly as possible to all inquiries and orders we receive. We work with our clients individually to determine what it is they are looking for, whether it be cake ideas, how much of an item they need to order, what other alternatives they could have for their event, etc. We take pride in our product and will only deliver what we think is our best. If something doesn’t come out as we expect it to, we start over fresh. We are also not afraid to turn down an order if we feel we cannot provide what the customer is looking for, or if we do not feel we have the appropriate time to deliver the perfect product. We want our customers to be happy with the product!
Contact Info:
- Address: 27 Sherman Drive
Raymond, NH 03077 - Website: www.eanddsbakingco.com
- Phone: 603-425-3821
- Email: info@eanddsbakingco.com
- Instagram: @eanddsbakingco
- Facebook: eanddsbakingco
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