SO HOW'D WE GET HERE?
When we opened Budgie's in December of 2022 this shop was just the beginning of a culmination of all of my wildest dreams. For years I had been baking as a side hustle to afford the extras, like new roller derby skates in 2018ish, and in 2022 when I discovered I was pregnant I baked some to offset taking an unpaid maternity leave from my Bakery Manager position with a local health food store. After EmmaLeigh made her appearance in July 2022 James and I found it really hard to go back to working jobs that were emotionally running us into the ground. It was really hard to justify both of us going back to work and paying the amount of one of our salaries to put Emma in childcare. So the plan was one of us would maintain our job and the other would stay home full time, but how do you make that decision? Who gets to hang out with the coolest kid and who has to spend 40+ hours playing the capitalism game every day? (Don't get me started on my thoughts about capitalism...). I started daydreaming out loud about wanting to just jump in the deep end with baking and owning a coffee shop, one thing rolled into another and I made it happen, (with so much HELP!!! both financially and from an already established community of friends and family). I do not want to downplay here how privileged we have been to make this dream a reality. James and I have put in so much sweat equity already and will continue to, but we have benefited extremely from our circumstances to even have this opportunity and acknowledge many others aren't as privileged.
So we have had the bakery open for just over a year. In that year we have vended at several of the Blue Ridge Roller Derby games, made weekly appearances at the Enka Candler Tailgate market, donated to local events and fundraisers for community members in need, collaborated with other local business like Palm and Pine in west asheville, and we have gotten to know so many of your faces and families. We have been able to help you celebrate your special events and have invited you into many of ours. (Our thanksgiving parade watch party was so much fun!). 2023 truly has been an amazing year of growth and grattitude on our part.
WHATS NEXT?
Our main priority for 2024 is continued growth. 2023 was successful in some ways but we have struggled to find a way to make our business sustainable both for the business' longevity and our personal family's ability to maintain. In order to make our ventures profitable we have so many big plans for 2024!
The bakery is located in the parsonage of an old church. James is hoping to convert that space into a RPG bookshop, (think Dungeons and Dragons). It's a really cool space with lots of features that would allow him to feature the space as a welcoming community center within the role-playing game community. He hopes to rent space for groups to host games as well as other larger events like weekly or monthly movie nights. We are hoping to have this going in the next few months but it is entirely dependent on our ability to secure business loans or become sufficiently profitable in the bakery to be able to invest money in this project.
I am undertaking several projects with the bakeshop including expanding our catering and delivery options but also hopefully taking on some wholesale clients. I also want to utilize our backyard at the shop more. We have so much space outside and Id truly love to see it used. I have a dream of that space being filled on warm afternoons with our community coming together to enjoy the sunshine and each others company. I also plan on continuing to plan and develop more community events. I'll continue to vend and support at both the Blue Ridge Roller Derby games and the Enka Candler Tailgate Market. I also will be serving on the Board of Directors for the market. I am excited to see how these organizations will grow within 2024! Hopefully, we will also be able to host some amazing events at our space this year as well. We are having a birthday celebration February 3rd (giving away free coffee all day)! I am stirring with the idea of cookie decorating birthday party packages and other fun events throughout the year.
WHAT I WANT TO SEE HERE
Beyond all of this I want to use our business space as a place where I am able to be authentic with myself and my values. I dream of building a space that is welcoming and truly allows for a community to flourish. I want you to feel comfortable in our space and to look forward to stopping in to say hello and grab a coffee or a treat. I want to have a space where I can share my talents with others, part of this for me is what led me to start this "blog" or forum or this online space. I want to be accessible in a way that allows me to share new recipes or ways of baking that isnt accessible in short interactions in the shop. I also want to have a space to talk about the tough subjects (if it hasn't been obvious our family is welcoming and supportive of you as you are. Hate will not be tolerated in this space, both physically and virtually). I hope this online space will act as a place where you can get to know me better, but also where you can ask questions about adjusting recipes to gf or vegan or just share in your fails. (I'll do that too lol, I have some doozies to post!)
So if you've made it this far thanks for reading. I hope you'll find something of value here and I can't wait to see what 2024 adds to our already full lives!
-with love, Bri (and James and Emma) 
