WannaHavaCookie kiosk in the Limelight Marketplace

“Hey, Marisa, where have you been?  I haven’t seen you in ages!”

Yep.  That’s because I am now the proud (and exhausted) proprietor of a 7×3 foot space on the first floor of the newly opened Limelight Marketplace at 47 West 20th Street, New York City.

I signed the lease literally ten days before the grand opening on Friday, May 7.  Mark took over construction - creating a to-scale replica in Powerpoint (have I mentioned how much I adore my husband??) so we could figure out what type of shelving would actually fit in the space.  Approval came on Tuesday; the buildout happened Wednesday; the VIP gala premiered Thursday, May 6.  And we’ve been going full steam ever since.

That first weekend was crazy — lots of people and great buzz.  Since then it’s calmed down and now it’s become a daily juggle of bake, stock and sell.  We’re getting some return customers (yay!), but have yet to “finish” our space with wall accessories (bummer).

The biggest learning curve has been stocking product.  All the whoopie pies at the store must be as fresh as those I sell online.  That means I’m in the prediction business.  How many whoopie pies can a baker sell in a day?  It’s a huge margin, and primarily dependent on factors completely outside of my control.  And so I spin the proverbial wheel of whoopies and hopefully learn a thing or two along the way.

We’re offering 6-7 whoopie pie flavors each day, with mix-and-match combination deals for 3, 6, 12 and 24 whoopie pies in our WHC-brand packaging.  It’s heartening to know we’re making some new friends, especially since my old ones have been generously understanding about my lack of availability.

I miss my friends and hope to see them soon.  Meanwhile, come by the Limelight.  Tell me what you think of WHC whoopie pies.  I really want to know.  And please, for the love of all that is good and right, don’t call them macaroons!

My first official public appearance for WannaHavaCookie was a combination of timing, press mentions and luck.  Metro NY’s “Get in My Belly” article mentioned WHC whoopie pies when it went to print on January 14.  A few days later I got a call from Jacki Zix, who was organizing Macy’s Cellar Kitchen cooking demonstrations.  They were featuring women-owned businesses in honor of March’s status as women’s history month.  Of course I said yes!

I’m pretty comfortable in front of people, so the opportunity to showcase WannaHavaCookie was a lot of fun.  The crowd was a mix of mid-week shoppers and hard core foodies — some even took notes!  I had a great time, and Jacki was thrilled with the whoopie pies as well, so I hope to be back at Macy’s in the future.

Here are some photos courtesy of my wonderful friend Teri Patapoff, who agreed to play photographer for the day!

Pre-show prep

Poster Recap. I'm on March 18th

The Macy's Professionals...and me

Stage for mixer and ingredients

Practical tv angle shows work area from above

TV is especially nice for those standing in the back row

Intro time

Mixing vanilla buttercream

Answering questions from the audience

Final assembly: whoopie pies, mint and vanilla buttercreams

Talking with the audience after the demo

My first autograph!

The fan who asked for my autograph!

Whoopie pie recipes

Whoopie pie samples

Journalism students Nathan Ehrlich and Lisa Waananen were tasked with creating a documentary about a “career changer” for their film class last fall.  Mutual acquaintances brought them to my attention, and the rest is video history!

They followed me from home to kitchen and back again, logging who-knows-how-many hours of footage, and pulled together an audio slideshow and a truly wonderful final documentary.  I hope you both got an A-PLUS for your hard work (and late nights!).

Click on the links below to see their hard work in action:

In the kitchen with WannaHavaCookie

Becoming an entrepreneur, one whoopie pie at a time

Wow.  It’s been over three months since I’ve had a moment to spare.  Such is the life of an entrepreneur!  Or really, such is the life of an entrepreneur whose business consists of crippling learning curves and the opportunity of a lifetime.

Real Simple magazine (yes, THAT Real Simple!) selected us to be a part of the 2009 Holiday Gift Guide.

Their December issue featured our Whoopie Tin Tower on its very own page!  A few calls from interested readers soon turned into an avalanche of orders — so many that we literally maxed out our Christmas delivery schedule a full two weeks before December 25.  Even then, the orders kept coming, and we could not bake whoopie pies fast enough to meet demand.

We received double the number of orders that even Real Simple had estimated: about 2,000 in just three weeks.  It was amazing and insane and stressful and mind-bendingly terrifying all at once.  Equal parts success and nervous breakdown, with a dash of hope and unfortunately some failures, we managed to survive.

Now that’s it all over, we’ll see if the learning curve has taught me more than just how to produce one thousand whoopie pies in a 24-hour period — which I can do now, by the way.

As (I hope) most of you know, the title of this blog is an homage to one of the best children’s books out there: Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are.  For those of you…er…non-readers…you may recognize the title from Spike Jonze’s most recent movie adaptation, now showing at a theater near you.  I was lucky enough to see it with fellow fans in all its IMAX glory last weekend, and I’m happy to say the movie did not disappoint.

My history with this book dates waaayyy back.  I was four years old when my older sisters recorded me “reading” it aloud for my mom’s birthday.  Being the youngest of four, I’m not sure whether I actually remember doing it, or if I’ve been told the story so many times that it seems like a memory.  Either way, I am a lifelong fan.  I even began collecting the book in different languages, which now hang proudly next to my dining room table.  I have copies in English (of course), German, Italian, Spanish and French.  Maybe someday I’ll get all 36.

Last weekend seems like a long time ago now — and my “wild rumpus” is just beginning.  Holidays and cookies go together like, well, peanut butter & jelly!  So the fun (and crazy hard work) will commence in five…four…three…two…one!

I’ve been experimenting with the joys of food paste, and found some colors that work wonders for buttercream fillings.  Check out the latest orange and black (er…brown, really, but close enough!) Halloween treats.  My whoopies did indeed get some costumes of their own!

Maybe next year I’ll actually transfer that creativity to my own wardrobe.  Maybe…

Amy Atlas Events called me about donating some whoopie pies for a table display at the Martha Stewart “Weddings” magazine 15th Anniversary party last week.  As anyone in food knows, when Martha calls, you answer!

Thanks to my addled brain, I confused the event dates and had just 3 days to pull everything together — oops.  I still had a little time to experiment with Amy’s table colors of pink and white, and was able to deliver 140 pale pink mini whoopie pies filled with lemon buttercream in plenty of time for the festivities.  Of course the table came together beautifully, because Amy is a genius!

WHC mini whoopies for Amy Atlas Events

Amy Atlas Events dessert table display and samples

She also scored me a ticket for the evening’s festivities at the Plaza, and I was duly impressed.  It was fun to see an authentic “Martha-event” firsthand, and I was secretly thrilled to be walking around a ballroom at the Plaza — the suburban Florida girl in a cosmopolitan mecca!

multiple ice sculptures surrounding each bar

The best part of the evening was watching partygoers sample my mini whoopies by the dozen.  Mission accomplished!

Recently I’ve gotten into online radio.  It’s easy to load on most computers, and there’s so many stations that I can easily choose music to fit my mood.  I should’ve realized someone would figure out a way to advertise on it!

Matt Winchell does exactly this.  He represents CBS Radio, which runs multiple webradio platforms under one main site: www.cbsradio.com.  So last month Mark and I worked with Matt to create an online streaming ad for WannaHavaCookie!

CLICK_HERE_for_WannaHavaCookie_WebRadio_Ad

It’s kind of like a tv commercial with one visual.  Rockpaperpixel designed a banner for us, and then Mark & I had to work on the actual ad copy.  Can you believe it took us close to four hours to come up with a 60-second spot??  One minute doesn’t seem long - until you’re talking about cookies.

The best part was that we were able to pair the ad with an online discount, and we can get stats on how many unique IP addresses listen to any given spot.  Isn’t technology amazing?

Listen to the ad and let us know what you think!  Who knows…you may even be able to figure out the discount…

Lately, I’ve been fielding calls about customizing favors for everything from weddings to staff meetings.  It’s actually fun for me — the work is a change from my usual lineup, and creating something my clients love is almost as satisfying as actually eating the finished product!  Okay, well…maybe I’m exaggerating just a bit, but I do think there’s a heavy comparison.

Anyway, I thought I’d share a few photos of some favorite work that I’ve done over the past few weeks.

Thank-you favors for Judi R, personalized with her business card.

Judi sent me her cards, I baked the whoopies, and her guests enjoyed them...I hope!

Judi R was headed to an out-of-town meeting and wanted to present her colleagues with a small treat at a staff dinner (which was being held in her honor, by the way).  After a quick phone call, we agreed on something chic and simple.  Judi sent me some business cards, which I paired with WannaHavaCookie orange ribbon, and delivered them the evening before her flight.  I think they’re perfect, but then, I may be a bit biased…

Alison B's custom wedding favors: her ribbon & label around a fresh-baked whoopie pie

You think this is a lot? Wait until you see the next pic...

Alison B is getting married this Saturday, and we’ve been working together to create completely custom wedding favors for the big day.  Alison chose the ribbon, designed her own labels, and selected three types of whoopie pie flavors for her guests.

This week was the big push for me to make sure all the favors met both our very high expectations. Lots of baking went into this project, and I can honestly say I’m thrilled with the result.  Alison & Nick, congratulations!!

By the way, I don’t know if you realize what 160 whoopie pies looks like - I know I didn’t!

This is what 160 whoopie pies looks like.

Mark & I headed to the beach last month for vacation with my three siblings and their families.  Imagine my glee when my technologically-challenged brain figured out how to record my adorable niece and nephew shilling my cookies.  I love being an aunt!

Isaac says WannaHavaCookie          Reyna says WannaHavaCookie