Ugh, not the email I wanted to send but the location I want is probably too big of a dream currently. There’s just so many little things that I just didn’t know that I didn’t know. I knew the whole time I was feeling completely out of my comfort zone, and every time I felt like I’d take a step forward, I felt more and more naive. Ultimately, I just won’t get the funds. Not that I think that anyone needs to know this, but I like to be honest with where I’m at. Crowdfunding made me uncomfortable. I saw other people doing it and just felt like I could do the same. I stopped promoting it because I wanted to wait until I could share the spot I was going for. In the meantime, I was looking into what it would take to get a small business loan. Problem with that is.... I’ve wanted to live debt free, and with that I don’t have any credit. A lot of you messaged me and were interested in investing, and I was really trying to get there without investors. The place is going up for lease soon, so when it is I’ll post on Instagram where it was and you’ll see why I wanted it so bad.
But here’s the thing that did happen through all of this. I’m going to be turning into a micro bakery. If you’ve been following any news at all from myself or Studio C, you’ll know that Greg, chef and owner of Studio C, was diagnosed with cancer. With him being out more than before, I get the opportunity to take that big vision I had and still do it just on a smaller scale for this year. Cancer sucks. It’s never easy, and this opportunity comes from a place of what I’m sure is great sadness, and I don’t take it lightly. My hope is that while I continue to grow Indy Dough, I help benefit Studio C. It’ll still be managed by Nic, and he’ll still be selling all his wines and I’m sure there’s more fun dishes planned, make sure to follow them too! I’ll just be in there more frequently with more offerings. I’ll move away from pop-ups elsewhere. If I do an outside pop-up, it’ll only be once a month. Becoming a micro bakery will also allow me to actually hire someone! You probably won’t see significant changes from me this month but I’ll keep you all up to date. Here are some other good news items. When the opportunity comes again to open a brick and mortar, I already have my connections to an accountant, a lawyer, a general contractor, insurance agent, vendors, and my full business plan all ready to go. I’m of course a little bummed and maybe slightly embarrassed trying to accomplish all this in the public eye, but ya live and ya learn.
Because crowdfunding made me so uncomfortable and times are seriously tough, I want to offer anyone who donated their money back. I know with your donations I had said if I didn’t get the location, I was shooting for I’d use whatever funds I did get to purchase equipment or save until the next location. This is still true. I haven’t used any of the money donated to me, so if you want your money back just tell me your full name used to donate on GoFundMe and your Venmo or PayPal name and I’ll refund your donation. I’ll also be going through the list of names and sending direct messages to donors. I just don’t have all the contact info for all of them. I’ll be refunding donations until January 31st. After January 31st, if I have anything left my first purchase will be a bigger mixer 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
I wanted to share this screenshot from my Instagram last year when Greg asked if I wanted to help on a menu for party of people who wanted it focused on pie for pi day (3/14) it was maybe just 15 people, but I knew Indy Dough was going to grow and it’s fun to document where you’ve been. It’s always a lot of little moments that make up the big moments in life. And just like this GoFundMe attempt, I know it’ll be another small step that make up a big moment next year.
Thanks for all your support!
Amanda