Melissa Ben-Ishay’s “love language” has all the time been baking. So, when she was fired from her promoting job at age 24, following her ardour into enterprise appeared like a really perfect alternative. Her brother Brian Bushell inspired her to grab it. “We wound up creating an unbelievable product that makes individuals pleased throughout good occasions 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.
The corporate, which simply celebrated its “Candy 16,” has grown loads over time, changing into a multimillion-dollar enterprise with nationwide transport and 13 retail places within the New York Metropolis space and Boston.
Baked By Melissa has bought greater than 350 million cupcakes, constructed an internet group of three.8 million followers and expanded into new classes, partnering with main manufacturers reminiscent of Oatly and Entenmann’s alongside the way in which.
Ben-Ishay has additionally developed as an entrepreneur and chief prior to now 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 revealed earlier this 12 months and have become a New York Occasions bestseller.
The driving pressure behind her success, in line with Ben-Ishay? Her capability to grasp what she would not know — and to show to individuals who do.
“I like to be incorrect,” Ben-Ishay says. “I do not assume I do know the whole lot. In truth, 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 nicely 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 corporations to assist unfold the phrase. By the next 12 months, 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 exterior funding and stays privately owned as we speak. Ben-Ishay’s co-founders every introduced a novel, complementary ability set to the desk and offered invaluable human capital, she says.
Based on 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 features of the model in its early years, and Omari’s Cafe Bari housed Baked By Melissa’s first business kitchen and retail location on the nook of Spring Avenue and Broadway.
Moreover, Zion “is an unbelievable networker and was capable of get our bite-size treats into each movie premiere, night time membership, crimson carpet occasion and movie star inexperienced room you might consider,” Ben-Ishay recollects.
Considerably reluctantly entering 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 assume I needed 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 unbelievable alternative. Ben-Ishay rose to the problem — and it paid off.
“We went on to interrupt our vacation gross sales data that month,” Ben-Ishay recollects. “Two months later, we broke gross sales data once more with our busiest vacation, Valentine’s Day. Straight following, I led our crew by means of a worldwide pandemic (whereas working from house with two younger youngsters), and we got here out on the opposite aspect stronger than ever.”
The expertise taught Ben-Ishay the significance of advocating for your self and going after large targets.
“Chances are you’ll assume it is just a dream and never attainable — however I guess it’s attainable,” Ben-Ishay says. “I realized that we have to do the issues that scare us essentially the most. I’ve all the time believed in approaching each problem as a chance. The position of CEO felt to this point 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 turned the corporate’s CEO, she took on one other influential position: social media content material creator. “I like social media,” Ben-Ishay says. “I am very impressed by it, and I perceive the instrument it may very well be for a enterprise.”
Based on Ben-Ishay, Baked By Melissa “missed the boat a bit bit” when it got here to Instagram. The corporate launched earlier than the social media platform existed and did not instantly reap the benefits of it. “It took a 12 months or so for me to grasp the chance,” Ben-Ishay explains, “and I made a silent promise to myself that the following time a social media channel emerges, I’ll be taught it and use it straight away.”
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 artistic crew 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.
“Sooner or later on a whim, I posted a salad, and it went viral [with] thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands 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 immediately, 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 worked up to proceed main the corporate’s development.
“We’ve a lot alternative,” she says. “We’ve a product that makes individuals pleased throughout good occasions and unhealthy, and we are able to get it to you completely with the very best high quality, irrespective of the place you might be in the USA of America. I believe now we have 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.
