Shop Local & Savor Sweetly
As a small business we understand the hard work and long hours it takes to make a passion project profitable. So, when we started thinking about content for this year's Small Business Saturday story Dot & Pearl’s Bakery in The Market came immediately to our mind!
Saturday, November 26, 2022 is Small Business Saturday – a day to celebrate and support small businesses and all they do in our community. This year, we know that small businesses need our support now more than ever as they navigate, retool and pivot from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Dot & Pearl’s Bakery began baking cakes based on generations’ of recipes and techniques as a tasty pick me up for shoppers while they perused the gift shop and antique marketplace. But Word of Mouth is the best marketing tool and soon requests for their heavenly homemade goods were pouring in, requiring them to expand their operation from a small bakery with a gift shop to a huge bakery with a successful storefront supporting 30 different vendors.
As our photographers were working around the counter and kitchen, capturing the magic of the talented team of bakery professionals, I was able to ask Donna; one of the people working hard every day, what made The Market so successful.
Q: What is the secret behind the success
Dot & Pearl’s Bakery has seen?
A: “The feeling you get when you walk in the door! From the smells when you walk in the door to the scratch made baked goods you can enjoy in the store or to go, we offer something here you can’t get just anywhere.
Q: How many orders will you fill between now and the end of the holiday season?
A: Before Thanksgiving we will fulfill 300 cakes, and by the end of the holiday season that number will be over 1,000.
Q: What marketing do you do to get the Dot and Pearl’s name out in the community?
A: We actually discourage most marketing, as the demand is already so high it is a struggle to keep the supply there. Our business has grown almost exclusively from word of mouth, and the folks in Emerywood have been very supportive in getting our name out, and we get a lot of return business; because we build relationships with our customers.
Q: When was Dot & Pearl’s Bakery started?
A: We started in the back of another antique market, with just a few cakes set out for folks to eat while they shopped, back in 2015, and before long, we knew that we would need a larger space to keep up with the demand, but even when we moved into this larger space, we wanted to keep the “home” feeling, so we don’t use commercial ovens, and every cake is still made from scratch, by hand, with attention to detail, just the way Dot and Pearl would’ve done it.
Q: So who is Dot and Pearl’s Bakery named after?
A. Dot and Pearl were the paternal and maternal grandmothers of Amy, the owner. All of the recipes we make were started and passed down from them. We still make the vanilla wafers for our banana pudding from scratch, there are none better, anywhere!
Happy holidays, shop small, shop local and be sure to stop by Dot and Pearl’s Bakery this season! They are located at 137 W Lexington Ave, High Point, NC. 27262.