Sarah Besaw takes baking hobby to next level as a pop-up business

Pop-up businesses are gaining in popularity as entrepreneurs test the market before making a big investment in a brick-and-mortar location or e-commerce site. And many of the food-related businesses start with a compliment. That’s Sarah Besaw’s story.
“I started baking during COVID and was doing it for fun and giving cookies away,” said Besaw, of Green Bay. “I started with cute little cookies that were decorated to look like things like toast or lemon circles. I had people I was sharing cookies with saying they were delicious and looked really cool.”
She wasn’t trying to sell the cookies when a co-worker at Green Bay Water Utility, where Besaw works full time, asked if she could order some.
“It was for her boyfriend’s birthday and I was so surprised that I had no idea what to charge. I had to guess at it,” she said.
For that first order, she made round sugar cookies with royal icing that spelled out happy birthday. From that point on, with the urging of others, she thought she just might have the start of a business.
As she contemplated what to do next, the research began. Besaw poured over internet sites and found resources for how to price items. She considered the cost of ingredients, equipment purchases, kitchen rental, and labor, an item missed by many bakers.
In March 2021, she made her debut on social media with the name Busy Bee Custom Confections.
“In choosing a name, I bounced around a few ideas and really liked the alliteration so I settled on the double one with two B’s and two C’s. I didn’t want to say just cookies because I didn’t know what I’d be doing in the future,” she said.
She also created a mission statement that says in part, “My mission is to serve up small-batch, homemade cookies that offer a sweet little escape from real life, even if just for a minute. I’m a one-woman show, not a big business; just a real person with an apron and a mixer with every cookie made with creativity, quality ingredients, and a whole lot of heart.”
The next step was finding a place to sell and she approached her friends, David and Kelly Powers, owners of Powers Comics & Collectibles in Ashwaubenon. Besaw and her husband, Joshua, were longtime customers of the shop, and the owners were happy to give her a place to set up.
They decided on Wednesdays because that’s the day of the week that new comic book releases come out and the store is very busy. Besaw created a pop-up display and loaded it up with about 10 dozen prepackaged, priced, and labeled cookies.
She said, “It was a good fit for us. They were open to it and they welcomed me in. And then, as people purchased and tasted my cookies, I attracted sort of a cult following.”
Packaging made the cookies readily identifiable as hers. Her friend, Addie Sorbo, owner of Strawberry Fields Designs, a graphic design company in Green Bay that caters to a female clientele, created an eye-catching logo.
The logo is featured on business cards, and distribution of the cards has become a big part of branding. Besaw hands out piles of them to loyal customers who have helped out by giving them to friends and family.
She said, “My parents are also great about getting my name out there. My dad carries a stack with him and gives them out to everyone wherever he goes.”
The word continues to spread. After the first order, it was almost immediately that she got messages from people she knew asking what she would bake. The initial orders tended to be for the time-consuming, hand-decorated cookies, and because it takes about eight hours per set, she prefers to promote the more traditional cookies.
What sets the non-decorated cookies apart is their size and unique flavors like Chunkin’ Punkin, Chai Charmer, and Lemon Luxury. There are also traditional flavors and all are big, thick cookies. In addition, she makes cookie bars and brownies with the assortment changing every week.
Other locations have been added including Soul Purpose and Wonderland Vintage Market, both in Green Bay. The cookies are delivered weekly and any unsold stock is picked up, per State of Wisconsin regulations. Baking is done a few nights a week at Tazza coffee shop, which has locations in Ashwaubenon and Bellevue.
Besaw said, “I worked out a trade with Tazza and I’m grateful to use their kitchen. Melissa (Niffenegger), the owner, had a background as a cottage baker and wanted to help me out. Finding and renting a commercial kitchen can be really expensive. You can bake at home if you don’t have retail locations, but there are rules to follow if you do.”
The baking takes about 3.5 hours a few days a week and she does it after leaving her day job. She gets home early enough to spend time with her children who are also part of the business. Isabella and Adelaide, ages 15 and 13, help in the kitchen when they can; her son, Gavin, and stepson, Snowden, enjoy being taste testers.
The tasting is a big part of deciding which recipes are worthy of being added to the lineup. At this point in business development, she says that everything is fluid from recipes to places to sell. Her business plan changes frequently as she balances business growth with her regular job.
She said, “One of my greatest challenges is time management. I had to learn my boundaries and that it is OK to say no. I was taking on orders that I didn’t have time for. Between costing, ingredient restocks, packaging, baking, making dough, and developing a methodical system, I am working about 20 hours a week.”
Hiring an accountant is about the only part of the business that she has help with. That means she is incredibly busy with everyday tasks and coming up with new products. One of the most recent ideas is a subscription cookie service.
“I’m offering a monthly box of cookies with a set price for a six-month subscription. I have 10 subscribers signed up and I’m going slow to test the program. Before filling orders, I send out a questionnaire to the subscribers so that I can custom design a box,” Besaw said. “So far, I’ve gotten rave reviews and customers are having fun getting that monthly surprise. It gives me the creative freedom to test out new recipes.”
In the process of finding new recipes and learning what other bakers are doing, Besaw has become part of a nationwide community. Recently, she attended a baking conference in Texas and met some of the people who have motivated her to consider her next steps.
“In a year, I would love to see more pop-up locations added. I want to have slow, steady growth and would like to have a brick-and-mortar location someday, but it isn’t a risk I’m comfortable taking at this point,” Besaw said. “Martin Luther King Jr. had advice that inspires me, ‘You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.’”
Tina Dettman-Bielefeldt is co-owner of DB Commercial Real Estate in Green Bay and past district director for SCORE, Wisconsin.