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TRANSCRIPTION WITH SPEAKERS
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[00:00] SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Countless Podcast.
[00:05] SPEAKER_01: Hello and welcome to Edmickton's podcast with Mario Tanaguse on Canada's podcast network. Joining me today is Kathy Lesco
[00:14] SPEAKER_01: who is the founder of Confetti Sweets Insure with Park, just outside of Edmondton. Thanks for joining us today Kathy.
[00:22] SPEAKER_00: Thank you for having me.
[00:23] SPEAKER_01: Well let me just start by asking you what is Confetti Sweets and what do you do?
[00:28] SPEAKER_00: We are a primarily, we started at the cookie store in Shurd Park and now we have branched out to cakes and cupcakes as well.
[00:39] SPEAKER_00: But our focus is still cookies so every cupcake has a little cookie on top.
[00:44] SPEAKER_00: Everything we do kind of incorporates the cookies and we have a storefront in Shurd Park. We also do farmers markets and
[00:52] SPEAKER_00: recently we've entered into the grocery industry.
[00:56] SPEAKER_01: Oh okay, meaning that you're in some of the grocery chains?
[01:00] SPEAKER_00: Yes.
[01:01] SPEAKER_01: Okay, when did you start the company?
[01:05] SPEAKER_00: It was actually 2008, was my very slow part time start, you know kind of working one day a week and I got my first storefront in 2014.
[01:19] SPEAKER_00: So that's when I really actually started focusing on the company.
[01:22] SPEAKER_01: Okay, and can you explain a little bit about the genesis of the company, how you started and why you started it?
[01:31] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well I love baking cookies so even as a teenager I would be baking chocolate chip cookies all the time and
[01:40] SPEAKER_00: you know they didn't turn out but I would turn them into something that actually works.
[01:45] SPEAKER_00: And so I've always had that and I've always liked to bake. I'm not a very good cook so I'm definitely on the baking side.
[01:52] SPEAKER_00: And when I had my children and I was on mat leave, I just kind of being at home with the kids all day, I needed to use my mind for something, do something creative.
[02:03] SPEAKER_00: So just started baking cookies and bringing them to as gifts and some parties and whatnot and
[02:10] SPEAKER_00: I kind of got to the point where my family could not eat any more sweets like we were we were full of we were gonna balloon if we kept doing it.
[02:19] SPEAKER_00: So I said I wouldn't like to sell these and I just applied at the farmers market and ever being to the farmers market kind of an aventine and went on from there.
[02:32] SPEAKER_01: Well, how you know when in terms of your growth, you know, can you talk a little bit about what are your plans for the company going forward? Do you have just the first just one storefront or do you have more?
[02:47] SPEAKER_00: We just have one we've actually had we got to get to a few so we've partnered we partnered with another red company probably five years ago.
[02:56] SPEAKER_00: And we had a little satellite store there they said close down so we also close down.
[03:02] SPEAKER_00: And then we open the storefront in the west end of Edmonton and then we brought in another cake baker for that so now she's taken over that location she's still selling our cookies.
[03:16] SPEAKER_00: So I think that's not the one storefront now and I think that from what I've learned in expanding previously that that's enough for us.
[03:25] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so yeah.
[03:28] SPEAKER_01: Well, what do you think separates you from the mothers like you know there's obviously a lot of bakeries, you know, grocery stores have their own break bakeries as well.
[03:40] SPEAKER_01: What do you think differentiates you as a brand out there?
[03:46] SPEAKER_00: You're right every bakery is going to say they use the best ingredients and the best processors. I think I do think her cookies are absolutely delicious and I find that I have my down funny, but I have a very special palate.
[04:02] SPEAKER_00: So I can taste little differences. So I think her cookies are phenomenal, but I think what separates us and what helps with my growth is focusing on the branch. So I studied I have my degree in business and that's always really been my passion.
[04:19] SPEAKER_00: Whereas a lot of bakeries they like to bake so they start a business mine was I like to bake, but I really enjoy the business side so growing the business focusing on the brand I think really made us that note.
[04:34] SPEAKER_01: So where did you get the name from like.
[04:38] SPEAKER_00: Oh.
[04:42] SPEAKER_00: So it's it actually kind of evolved. So first we were just confetti.
[04:47] SPEAKER_00: Because I kind of thought like you know parties and that's at the beginning I was doing chocolate that type of things.
[04:54] SPEAKER_00: And then we went to confetti tree and then we went to confetti sweet because that's just kind of rolled off your town better.
[05:02] SPEAKER_00: And there's actually a time when I was contemplating changing it to cafes because pretty much everybody in Sherwood Park would call my booth or my product cafes cookie.
[05:15] SPEAKER_00: So there was a time when we briefly thought about that, but stayed with confetti sweet so that we said, Ro, if we ever wanted to and thank goodness I did that.
[05:25] SPEAKER_01: Let's talk a little bit about being an entrepreneur.
[05:28] SPEAKER_01: Kathy, what what do you like and enjoy about being an entrepreneur?
[05:34] SPEAKER_00: I like.
[05:36] SPEAKER_00: First of all, I like the freedom. So when my when my kids are little and they would come to work with me and I kind of have to work around their school schedule.
[05:45] SPEAKER_00: I'd work a lot. So you know 12 hour days that's kind of typical when you're starting out, especially in food business.
[05:54] SPEAKER_00: And then you will say, you know, you work so much. How can you be a good mom? And I was like, well, yes, they work a lot, but I work around my kids' schedule. So if I want to run out to a concert during the day, I can totally do that. So the flexibility is amazing.
[06:08] SPEAKER_00: And I think just being accountable. So if we fail, it's my fault.
[06:16] SPEAKER_00: But when we win, like I feel the pride and I feel the excitement and, you know, I pat myself on the back. So yeah, just the challenge and the responsibility and growing your team and your culture and I don't know, I just, I love it.
[06:34] SPEAKER_01: What was the biggest challenge for you as an entrepreneur?
[06:39] SPEAKER_00: You know, I would say in the food business because our margins are not the best.
[06:45] SPEAKER_00: It took me probably about like honestly six years before I was actually turning a good profit to be my selfless air wage.
[06:56] SPEAKER_00: So figuring out pricing, figuring out labor, that was I would say my biggest challenge. And I always caution people when they're, I have a lot of people coming out.
[07:07] SPEAKER_00: And I want to be, you know, I want to start an ice cream shop or a food business. And it's like, well, you're not going to make money for a lot of years or at least maybe I wasn't savvy enough, but that was my story.
[07:17] SPEAKER_00: So making money was the biggest challenge.
[07:21] SPEAKER_01: What when you look at your journey as an entrepreneur, having that business back from must have been quite helpful for you, right?
[07:32] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely. I think that, you know, what you learn in school doesn't really teach you for the business world, but at least you have some knowledge of how things work and, and what needs to be done, I guess.
[07:46] SPEAKER_00: And just, and not even having that education, but just the interest in it, I think, help be quite a bit.
[07:52] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because a lot of people, you know, have ideas and they start businesses right because they have a passion about a certain thing, right? But the whole second side of things, the business side of things is something that completely is lost on them, right?
[08:08] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like totally. And I mean, for me, getting out of the kitchen and getting into kind of just working on the business that, as soon as I could do that, I, I jumped shit like,
[08:22] SPEAKER_00: you know, I don't want to, I don't want to just make cookies all day long and make dough. I want to sell cookies, you know?
[08:32] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, because there really is two sides of the business, right? There's the, what you do, right? In your case, obviously, making and baking cookies.
[08:42] SPEAKER_01: And then there's the second part of the business, which is the business itself, right? In your selling, marketing, you know, your payroll, all this type of stuff, they are rent, your location.
[08:57] SPEAKER_01: That's the, the challenging thing, I guess, about being an entrepreneur. I do remember a years ago, a friend of mine, who's an artist telling me that, he said, Mario, he says, I got really two jobs.
[09:08] SPEAKER_01: He said, one is I'm the artist, the painter, and then but I'm also the businessman, right?
[09:15] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
[09:17] SPEAKER_00: And if you don't do the business side of it, then you're not going to grow. You're just going to see where you are and that that fight for those that want to do that. But
[09:25] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly. What, you know, during the, you know, the, from the inception to today, you know, being an entrepreneur, what kind of things helped you?
[09:38] SPEAKER_01: And how did you get along the way? Were there any people? Were there any examples of entrepreneurs out there? Books that you read that that helped you on your journey?
[09:52] SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
[09:53] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I, for me, when I first started, I went to business links and I got them to help me, you know, write a business plan. I did whatever, every kind of course that that there was I took. So, you know, human resources or building culture.
[10:14] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, reading all kinds of books. I love, you know, the Disney philosophy and the guest oriented side of that. So I read all the books on how Disney does business. And yeah, I didn't actually have a real, I would say mentor as I was going, but I had a lot of people that I looked at too and encouraged me for sure.
[10:38] SPEAKER_01: Was there anything in terms of a piece of advice that has always stuck with you that kind of resonated with you?
[10:47] SPEAKER_00: You don't, you don't know what you don't know. So when you're starting out, you think you know everything, but your students are going to learn that there's still many things you don't know.
[10:57] SPEAKER_01: So true.
[10:57] SPEAKER_00: Yeah. And, you know, also kind of going through the years of the business, everyone has ideas and they want to give you advice and it, you know, take it with a grain of salt because what works for the media might not work for you or your beliefs or your culture.
[11:16] SPEAKER_00: You know, you kind of got to stick with your gut, I would say.
[11:19] SPEAKER_01: So if you were giving advice to a would be entrepreneur, someone was thinking of starting up a business right now, what would it be?
[11:32] SPEAKER_00: I was first they just just jump in and do it because there's so many, you're never going to have everything ready to go. You're never going to have it perfect. So get started and you're not getting started small.
[11:45] SPEAKER_00: If you're in the food industry, I always say started a farm with market so that you can get a fiesta, you know, talking directly to your customers and just get in because your business plan is probably going to change.
[12:00] SPEAKER_00: Essentially over the next year or two, but if you don't start, you're never going to do it.
[12:06] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I know that that's so true, right? And the challenge of these times, Kathy, how has it been for you in the past?
[12:15] SPEAKER_01: You're in a bit through COVID and the pandemic?
[12:19] SPEAKER_00: Well, cookies are essential.
[12:22] SPEAKER_00: You're very lucky with that.
[12:25] SPEAKER_00: And actually, we had a we had a mild pass because in February of 2020, we we used more space. So we took over some baby side us, which tripled us inside.
[12:37] SPEAKER_00: And we had plans to do work, they've already and open kind of a little cafe. And of course, those types of things you could not do at all, right?
[12:49] SPEAKER_00: So we really pivoted and we opened confetti collective where we took all of our favorites from the from the family's markets and small business food vouchers and we started selling them in our store.
[13:04] SPEAKER_00: And that saved us.
[13:07] SPEAKER_00: And I, we're not going to start that. We love doing that. But
[13:12] SPEAKER_00: yeah, it's actually been the past year. It's been pretty decent for us.
[13:18] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, tell me, as you've gone through the pandemic, from a business point of view, what do you think some of the key lessons you've learned during this time?
[13:33] SPEAKER_00: We have a lot of different revenue stream. So so we already were selling online. Although that that gone through the roof now. We were selling in store. We were selling at a few farmers markets still. We were selling into grocery and corporate.
[13:50] SPEAKER_00: So for us like our corporate business corporate meetings, that type of thing that just died quickly.
[13:56] SPEAKER_00: We were selling the grocery, grocery, pretty much died because the grocery, the grocers were focusing on the essentials.
[14:05] SPEAKER_00: And you know, if we didn't have a bunch of different revenue streams, I don't know that we would have, we would have survived.
[14:12] SPEAKER_01: Okay, super. What about on the personal level? What do you think you've learned through this period?
[14:20] SPEAKER_00: I've definitely learned that I don't have to be at the shop constantly. I can work from home and my team, they can handle things. And I've also learned that I enjoy spending time with my family. And I enjoy, I actually slow down. And you know, we have family time. And I think that that bond will stay with us for a long time.
[14:43] SPEAKER_01: As anyone knows who's an entrepreneur, it's almost a 24 seven job in many ways. You know, lots of hours put in to your company into into your business.
[14:55] SPEAKER_01: How do you juggle that work like balance over the last few years?
[15:00] SPEAKER_00: So the last few years have been not bad. I'm finally at that point where I do have a team that can take things on.
[15:14] SPEAKER_00: And also my children are old enough to come work for me. So after school like, hey, let's go work together and we kind of spend time together. And I like teaching them that.
[15:23] SPEAKER_00: That I don't just out of the shop and hang out. I'm actually there's actually work to be done right because they just be the good side of it. They don't see all the hours that could put in when they're when the kids when the kids were little I, I think I actually I would say sales at the work life balance.
[15:44] SPEAKER_00: And I think the kids suffered from that a little bit, but now I think I've I've bought it since, you know, I come home for supper every day and gotten much better. And that's that's been really since since COVID started.
[15:58] SPEAKER_01: Okay, cool. And imagine for the kids with a lot of green benefits working working there, right?
[16:07] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they want to buy something. Well, let's go to work. You can make some money.
[16:12] SPEAKER_01: What a great place to work and surrounded by cookies.
[16:16] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
[16:18] SPEAKER_01: What about yourself personally, Kathy, do you have any other outside interests that you occupy your time?
[16:27] SPEAKER_00: You know, camping. That's my that's my downtime. Even when I was going hard, you know, we go camping at least one day we get out of the city, fit around a campfire. That's my happy place.
[16:40] SPEAKER_00: I love smell and like smoke and roasting marshmallows and balance that with a little bit of wine and hanging out with the kids and I'm happy.
[16:52] SPEAKER_01: Always important, I guess, for everyone to have that kind of quote unquote downtime, right?
[16:58] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, you need just to shut off and step away and turn your phone off and focus on the now, I think.
[17:06] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, when you look at the last few years of having this business, you know, what is it been like to be a business owner in that?
[17:21] SPEAKER_00: Oh, I it's it's fantastic. Our our business community and especially in the food food side of it. It's a
[17:33] SPEAKER_00: we collaborate quite a bit. Everybody kind of knows everybody and everyone's willing to help. So even, you know, even different cookie companies competing. We we work together a little bit. We share a secret.
[17:49] SPEAKER_00: And especially me being on the just the out for it's a bit of a smaller community. That's the support from the from the people is incredible with COVID everyone wants to buy local. So that definitely helps us and the others in this industry.
[18:08] SPEAKER_01: Okay, super that. All right. Well, thanks a lot for joining us today, Kathy.
[18:13] SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
[18:14] SPEAKER_01: Wonderful. All right. That was Kathy Lesco, who is the founder of Kubehiti Suites in Sherworth Park. This has been Edmonton's podcast with Mario Tanaguse on Canada's podcast network. Thanks for joining us today.
