Elena-Maria Hert lives in Billings, MT and sells European baked goods with her cottage food business, European Baked Delights.

Elena grew up in Romania and moved to the United States in 2021. She started sharing her baked goods with neighbors, and they encouraged her to start selling them.

Elena started her cottage food bakery in the summer of 2022, and she’s not shy to admit that her growth went slower than she expected. She mostly sells products that most people in her area aren’t familiar with, so it’s taken a long time to find and educate her customer base.

It wasn’t until 2024 that she started to see significant growth in her business, and now her persistence is paying off, with her being fully booked with orders by the end of that year.

In this episode, Elena shares an honest view of some of the challenges of starting a bakery from home, especially when you don’t initially find product/market fit.

What You’ll Learn

• The risk of choosing a niche you are passionate about
• Why patience and persistence are essential when introducing unfamiliar products
• The challenge of balancing labor-intensive baking with profitability
• Why Elena focuses on an international menu, instead of only selling Romanian baked goods
• How to promote a porch popup
• The benefits of incorporating digital products to supplement baking income
• The reality of work/life balance when starting a business with young kids
• How Elena’s residency status affected her ability to sell homemade food

Resources

European Baked Delights website (Instagram | Facebook | TikTok)

Elena’s Stan Store (digital info products for bakers)

Montana Cottage Food Law

Sponsor

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The Cottage Foodie is an online directory that will expand your customer base and connect you with food enthusiasts not only across your own state, but around the country as well. It’s the go-to resource for consumers everywhere seeking unique, locally-made treats.

The founder, Matt Rosen, was on Episode 133 and shared that he was inspired to start The Cottage Foodie to help other bakers fulfill their dreams.

By joining The Cottage Foodie, you’ll also get to connect and network with an exclusive community of Cottage Food Producers who are passionate about running their food businesses from the comfort of home.

Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to showcase your talents and grow your cottage food business!

To join The Cottage Foodie and learn more, go to forrager.com/cottagefoodie

Digital Product Community

Chef Amanda Schonberg’s course will help you make extra money by adding digital products to your business, just like Elena has done.

More and more bakers are finding ways to earn additional revenue outside of the kitchen, so what’s stopping you?

Let this be the year that you start to earn extra income and have success the digital way.

To learn more about Amanda’s course, go to forrager.com/digital

Get full show notes and transcript here: https://forrager.com/podcast/137