Opening

Our grand opening, in the dead of a New York winter, was a blur of cakes, hot chocolate, smooth music, kudos, and happy people. We were exhausted, but cheerful and content. Our bakery seemed to please both the pastry enthusiast and the casual cupcake customer alike. Most important, we started to see an influx of repeat customers (always a good sign for our type of business).

Over the next few months, we started increasing the yields on our recipes to meet the demand. In January 2005 we were making forty-eight cookies per day, by June we were making two hundred, and the numbers have been increasing ever since. Our cakes and brownies have followed the same trajectory.