The value of the Annie B Brand - Annie B’s Sweets was preceded by Annie B’s Confections and Annie B’s Kitchen, a Cooking School. Annie B’s Confections began as a wedding cake bakery in Annie’s home in Washington Crossing, PA where, in 12 years, Annie made well over 1,000 custom designed wedding cakes. Annie B’s quickly became known as the premier wedding cake baker in the Delaware Valley, in both PA and NJ. During that 12 years, Annie sold strictly by word of mouth. She had no advertising, no business cards, no marketing plan, the cakes were not only beautiful, but they really sold on the strength of their taste and flavor. Using old fashioned recipes in a new-fashioned way. As Annie B’s expanded, I continued to build the business without advertising. It was built strictly on the strength of the simplicity, taste, flavor, quality of ingredients and the simple production processes that we used. And the fact that everything was Handmade, Homemade. People could taste the Magic. And they couldn’t find that anywhere else. Since 1995 when I began to expand the business and grow other lines, Annie B’s continued to brand itself as Handmade, Homemade with the same quality ingredients and the same simple processes. I developed a line of miniature pastries, individual desserts, mini cakes and cupcakes, cookies, and custom designed desserts. Back in the days of food catalogues we were in every major catalogue, gracing the covers of some with custom designed desserts. That became our advertising. Annie B’s’ was “discovered” in the early 2000’s, by QVC. We sold the mini pies on air for 5 years. They were a huge hit. We would make 5000-10000 boxes of 12 and sell out in 8 minutes! Wild ride. But we were sorely undercapitalized for that volume of business. We closed in 2010.
THE STRENGTH OF THE BRAND IS IN THE LOOK AND THE TASTE OF THE PRODUCT.
It was unequaled then and is now, more than ever, because of the degradation and homogenization of the food in this country, particularly the over-sweetened desserts. Handmade Homemade has taken on a new meaning when you consider that its rivals are broadly manufactured desserts or dessert ingredient producers. And each Annie B dessert is carefully curated to be a work of art in its own right. Our customers tell us that every day.
A SECOND STRENGTH OF THE BRAND WAS THE HIGH ACCEPTANCE RATE OF THE PRODUCT SELECTION.
Annie B’s Confections baked limited time products for 1600 Starbucks stores on the East Coast, still all by hand, for five years. We made over 1 million biscotti for them. We made cupcakes in NYC and Caramelita bars, a huge hit. All by hand. We made hand decorated Snowmen every Christmas for 3 years, 1.2 million of them! This speaks to the efficacy and simplicity of our recipes and processes.
THE THIRD STRENGTH OF OUR BRAND IS THE BALANCE OF AND HIGH ACCEPTANCE OF OUR FLAVOR PALLET
Annie B’s has created a pallet of tastes and flavors that is balanced and has a high acceptance rate, a high price point, and an instant audience. It is the strength of all four, the well tested recipes, the simple, easy to train procedures, the flavor profile, and that they are made by hand, that make them so irresistible and so profitable.
When Annie B’s Sweets started, fifteen years later, I began with just the mini pies, and the individual desserts. Then added mini bundt cakes. Then slowly built a line of pastries: Turnovers, Croissant Twists, and SCONES. With the opportunity to be one on one with the customers every week, these new lines were co-created so to speak, with the customers. Nothing like going to the source. Annie B’s is designed and has always been designed by exactly what the customers tell us. We listen. We know exactly what the customer will buy.
