Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in food and beverage but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Yann Fougere, co-owner of Bon Macaron Patisserie Ltd., located in British Columbia, Canada.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
We are a bakery specialized in only one product! We only make macarons, but we make plenty of them! We have at all times about 40 flavours, including some classic ones but also some seasonal ones and also some sweet&savory ones! Every week we change one flavour to follow the seasons and events happening around the year.
Our customers are anybody with a sweet tooth or even curious about food in general! We really take pride in creating flavours that you will not find anywhere else and can do pretty much anything from custom shapes to printing on macarons. We also host workshops where we teach people all the different steps in making the perfect macaron, as well as the filling that goes in between the two shells.
Tell us about yourself
David Boetti and I opened our first store at the end of 2012 in Victoria because it was a dessert that we both really loved, but that was not very common here and was seen as a very fancy dessert that was not accessible to everybody. We really enjoy being able to offer so many flavours that people didn’t even think could be doable in a macaron and to a very wide audience due to our pricing. Seeing people trying our product for the first time and seeing their reaction is always such a rewarding moment that we still enjoy nearly ten years later!
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
It is hard to pick one! Being still open ten years later? Our big accomplishment is having been able to open a shop in Victoria and in Vancouver successfully. Even though the cities are close, the customers are quite different. It also meant for us that one partner would be in Victoria and the other in Vancouver. We maintained a good partnership and communication even with the distance and still managed to grow the business.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
It never stops! Between all the different aspects of the job, it is 24/7! It takes a lot of effort to maintain a personal life and professional life balance, but it is necessary for the long run!
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Study the numbers! Passion and enthusiasm are great and will get you very far, but it won't work if the numbers don't add up it won't work!
- Take advice but believe in yourself! A lot of people didn't understand how our business would stay open by selling only one product!
- Make sure that the business is not only dependent on you to run, or it will never grow.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://bonmacaronpatisserie.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BonMacaron/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bonmacaronpatisserie/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bonmacaronvic
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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