Seven weeks ago when Carol King was looking for a business name she searched the Internet for adjectives beginning with the letter ‘s’ that would fit.
“I started out with Shortbread Cookie Company and I wanted something descriptive instead. When I got to ‘sassy’ I said ‘that’s it’ and I didn’t go any further,” she explained from her kitchen in Hothersal Development, St Michael.
Sassy means “lively, bold and full of spirit”, which the Sassy Cookie Company could be. After she was laid off from her job in June this year, King “sulked” for one day before following up on a previous job offer which did not pan out the way she expected. So she went to the supermarket, bought some flour, sugar, and butter returned home and started making shortbread cookies, some of which she took to a coffee shop and other places.
The next day the calls came to purchase more and she has been baking ever since particularly every Wednesday and Thursday to deliver to customers on Fridays.
“This wasn’t really my intention [which] was to make a little money until I could find a job. The response was so positive and I don’t believe in coincidences. I believe everything is for a reason and this presented itself in front of me and I could either go with it or walk away and get a job.
“Considering how things are job-wise right now and I’m not of the age people in hotels are looking for, people tend to want younger people these days . . . one or two people did tell me that. I’ve been laid off twice in the last four years.
It’s time to stop being at everyone else’s mercy. If I could work from 8 o’clock in the morning till 8 ‘o clock in the night I could certainly do that for myself,” King said with a smile.
So resolute was she in her decision that she created a Facebook page to highlight her goods and given the unexpected response, there is no backing out now.
While she supplies one coffee shop presently and dozens of happy customers, her main aim is to supply restaurants and hotels. The entrepreneur also had discussions with prospective clients to supply either a variety of cookies or dough and will start to do so later this year.
Recognising the importance of having the right packaging, King is hopeful she will be able to have exactly what she wants in time for Independence and Christmas.
Trained in the culinary arts, she prefers to make pastries because they “appeal to my meticulous nature”.
“I’m very creative and pastry is limitless like that. Even though I’ve only been doing the cookies for a short amount of time, I never had any thought to doing different varieties but I’m beginning to understand I’m limitless to what I can do with these. I can come up with a thousand varieties, a thousand shapes. I won’t get tired of it and I wanted to do something that I can still be doing years 20 years from now . . . ,” she said. The baker is intent on opening the Sassy Café and although it might be a “long way off”, she will be offering a variety of shortbread cookies, good-quality coffee and fresh juices. (Green Bananas Media)
