https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhqLsrmCLWI

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-70-daphne-subar-finds-the-sweet-spot-of/id1702888777?i=1000719614709

The Digital Marketeer Podcast with Stefanie Beach

Episode 70 - Daphne Subar Finds the Sweet Spot of Business Gifting

Hi everyone and welcome to this episode of the digital marketeteer. I'm your host, Stephanie Beech, CEO and founder of SMB Media Consulting. Here at SMB, we are a performance-driven agency helping brands, agencies, and publishers achieve success through paid and organic media. Today on our show, I'm thrilled to welcome back Daphne Subar, the creative mind behind Subarzsweets. Her last visit, Daphne has continued to grow her business in exciting and meaningful ways. We She's now partnering with more corporations to make gifting intentional, personal, and unforgettable. If you have not tried her cookies, I highly recommend trying them because they are unique. They are delicious. Um, and they are great for gifts. But from, you know, curated client appreciation gifts to thoughtful touches and national conferences, SubarzSweets is really providing a gift that can be a powerful connection and a personal connection. Today we're going to talk about how Daphne shares insights in scaling a product-based business, cultivating lasting relationships through gifting, and the lessons she's learned since being on the podcast last year. Welcome. How are you? Good. How are you, Stephanie? I'm doing good. Thank you so much for coming back. Thank you for asking me to come back. I'm really excited. I loved our conversation last year. Same. And I'm very excited to kind of get into things because I know so much has changed and shifted. Um, and aside from, you know, maybe some really interesting new recipes and flavors, you know, give us a quick recap of of some of the things that you've been working on since um, our last episode. Sure. So, just as a as a brief refresher, Subarzsweets is an online bakery that specializes in corporate and personal gifting. Since we chatted last time, we've expanded much more into the corporate gifting space. I think we saw a need for more intentional, meaningful gifts. I prior to launching Subarzsweets, I was an attorney. I received my fair share of those somewhat generic and unmemorable gifts. And I really realized that that's a need out there. People, especially in today's world, really want to feel connected and really want to feel noticed. And we've been working with our corporate clients to really make gifting personal and intentional and memorable again. That's so great. And I think that it's so nice because there are so many gifting options out there and you know unfortunately a lot of them are generic and you you're kind of getting the same thing over and over or the person next to you is getting the same thing and there's no really specificity or special meaning behind it. It's kind of all right, I went to this website, I checked the box and it's sent out. Um Super Sweets is more than just a bakery. uh even with our last conversation, you know, the personal touch and the amount of time that you put into it and the different flavors that you that you come up with are truly delicious and amazing. Um, but it really truly is like a gifting experience with some which is something you don't hear every day. So, can you share a little bit how you make those clients feel that it's personable and intentional and making it memorable? Yes. And I think you kind of hit on it when you said gifting experience because that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to make it a easy experience for our clients. So, we really work directly with our corporate clients, kind of take in and help them with a gifting plan. Nobody has time to really gift, but it is really important. So we meet with our corporate clients and we come up with a plan for them for them to show appreciation or gratitude to their clients, their employees or their you know vendors or just people that they work with. And then what we do is when we send the gift out, it is really an experience. It comes beautifully packaged in our pink branded box. We all gifts are accompanied by a handwritten note. um if the client wants that. And just from the moment they open the shipping box, it's just an experience. It's beautifully packaged. You can see the sue bars through the window. They taste really good. So, we've kind of tried to make it a great experience from literally beginning to end. Yeah. And I I feel like you have done that. Um and those pink little boxes are so cute. I love them. Um why do you think gifting has become transactional? You know, when you think of giving somebody a gift, it usually is something that's personal, right? It's something that you're thanking them for or something that you want to show your appreciation. For for some things to become so transactional. Where do you think we lost that? I think part of it came from people running out of time and it was kind of getting pushed down on everyone's to-do list. So, let's say around the holidays, you know, it's a year end, people are getting ready to go on vacation, you know, uh fiscally it's a year end. There's all that and gifting kind of just from what I've experienced kind of happens because it has to. We've really tried to change that transactional thing. We encourage our clients to gift throughout the year. Um, going back to when I practice law, I received a lot of gifts between December 15th and December 31st. Sadly, they went to waste. What we're doing with a lot of our clients now is gifting throughout the year or gifting on for a birthday or an anniversary. We work with real estate agents and we gift on the year and fiveyear anniversary of when they closed a transaction with a prior client. Um there's so many other ways to gift and make it feel more personal rather than transactional. It just requires people to think a little bit differently. But I think part of it came from almost an obligation to gift around the holidays and people are want to gift to more people, you know, to a broader base of people. So if you're sending 50 gifts, you don't have time to think about what you want 50 notes to say or 50 different items. Whereas we take that on for you. We we talk about a plan. We come up with it all and we just implement it. Which is really great. And that is true. like you know the majority of gifts you probably get are around the holidays which is great and it's really nice and you know but I do try to think about the things that are happening in my client's lives where maybe they had a baby or they bought a new house or you know um unfortunately maybe there was a death in the family or something to that effect where you're really kind of utilizing that to be personal but also to show you know gratitude appre appreciation. Um, show that you're caring and that you think about them and really building a relationship with them as opposed to it's Christmas or Hanukkah or whatever you might celebrate. Here's a gift. And and I think that that's kind of what makes it special as well is like going beyond the traditional holidays and really kind of taking an extra five minutes, you know, like it doesn't really take that long either to just be like, I'm thinking of you. Exactly. And I think you hit on it with the building the relationship also. People are feeling isolated. There's not a you people never go into the office. if they go to the office, it's a hybrid. I mean, people are really feeling disconnected and to receive something delivered either to your office or to your home when it's not expected. So, not around the holidays, um really makes people feel like, wow, somebody really knows I'm I'm out there and I'm trying hard and I'm really a person. So yes, I think it's really important for relationship building more now than precoid really when people were going into the office and and interacting more and you could just grab a coffee with someone or just let people know you're thinking about I think now people are really wanting that connection and wanting to be seen. Yeah. Um, I definitely agree and I think, you know, having those stories and having those people come back to you and being like, "Wow, this was amazing." Or, "This was delicious." Or, "Thank you so much." Or, "I bought another box for my mom," or, you know, whoever, whatever it might be is really special. Um, what are some of the meaningful gifting stories and and feedback that you've heard and how have Subarz Gifts, you know, really made an impact in people's lives? Are you able to share anything? Yeah, I think there's a few. Um, some were from the pandemic. Um, which were really nice. You know, pandemic's happening. Everyone's stuck at home. There were several people who sent gifts to neighbors of elderly relatives. So, for example, I would send to the neighbor of my grandparent and just say, "Thank you for checking in on my grandparent because I can't come." Or, "Thank you for dropping off groceries to someone." So there was a lot of that during the pandemic of people just showing gratitude and people kind of reconnecting and trying to fill that community with people when they couldn't actually physically go and visit a relative or someone in another town. Also college kids a lot of care packages were sent. Um since then people are very creative. I know the real estate agents sending it on the one-year anniversary or the two-year anniversary of when the transaction closed has they've gotten a great response to that. You know, some of them send out those I get them all the time, those magazines that are kind of like this marketing information that costs them a fortune. By sending one box of subarz to a to a prior client, they're not expecting to receive it. most likely they are going to email you or pick up that phone just to touch base and say thank you and that's just another touch point. So any business where it's kind of a you do a one and done transaction but you want to keep top of mind is where Subarz is really good because people aren't expecting to hear from you after the deal is closed, right? Yeah. It's the truth. And especially, you know, I mean I know when you buy a home you kind of feel like, okay, I bought my home like it's done. But maybe you're looking for an investment property. Maybe you're looking to sell a different home or maybe you're looking for something for a parent or a relative or you know there's so many other things that kind of go into that and it could just be a referral like hey my neighbor's looking to sell their house or my sister's looking to move and um that makes such a difference or you know somebody having their first baby and you're kind of like here's a little sweet treat you know I mean I feel like the possibilities are really endless and it This takes a little bit of effort to do something really sweet for people. No pun intended. Exactly. I know. I should use it. Well, it's interesting because the baby one is also really good because you have a baby, you're kind of feeling isolated and overwhelmed in the beginning. You're getting gifts, but they're really all for the baby. And how nice it is if you get, you know, a dozen little sweet treats that you get to just enjoy while you're up late or while you're, you know, home alone. So those things really do stand out because they're not the quote expected gift. Yeah. Um for sure. And it is funny that you said that because you um I have like three best friends and uh when they had their kids I would come with a care package for them and because everybody brings gifts for the baby and obviously don't stop doing that. It's really cute. But the mom did all the work, right? And the Right. And the mom's going to actually understand. The baby's not going to remember what it was. No, that's a great idea. That's I kind of wish I would have done that, but yeah, we have a niece having a baby next month, so she may get a care package. Oh, nice. That's very cute. Yeah. Um, and so I think something else that's a little new from the last time we spoke is your curated subscription program for gifting. Um, can you talk a little bit about how that works and why you kind of developed that? um you know what what was the the thought process behind it and how did you bring it to fruition? Yes. Yes. And that kind of also evolved from trying to make gifting intentional and not so obligatory around the holidays. Um so it's a very personalized subscription service. You can subscribe to get um sars delivered every month or every quarter differentiz boxes. Um and it's a great way to show someone that you're really thinking about it. So, let's say for Father's Day, people send gifts to different people that mess something to him. But if you give them a subscription, every three months they get a different or every month a different package. It can have a different handwritten note just reminding them that it's not just that one day during the year that you're thinking about them, that you really think about that person all year long. Um, I have a few small businesses that do that and they subscribe and every month they send the box to a different employee that they want to acknowledge or appreciate with a different handwritten note. So, it's completely customizable. You can change who you're shipping it to every month. You can change what you're shipping. You can upgrade. And then it also gives you a discount on all of our items. So, if you do subscribe and one month you want to send, you know, four boxes, not one box, you just c you can do that at a discount. That's great. That really is great. And it's really nice that it's so customizable because you could send it to the same person or you can change the address and send it to different people. And, you know, um sending something once a month or sending something once a quarter is not excessive and and it's approachable and affordable. And aside from an address, it's kind of like nothing really more that you have to do. Exactly. We really try to make it easy because we understand the importance of gifting and we understand the importance of that connection, but we do also appreciate how busy people are and how overwhelmed people are. Um, so we really do try to make it easy and you know, you get a reminder a week before like your box is coming up. Do you want to change who it's going to? Do you want to skip this month, which you have the option to, or do you want to change what is being sent? So, there's so many options and you can cancel at any time. It's really a great way for people to make gifting easy on their end. That's great. And, you know, specializing in working with different companies. You you spoke about sending an employee a box to, you know, show them appreciation. I feel like a lot of times companies get, you know, employee appreciation wrong. um or they send something that's impersonal or not something that's aligned with their personality or who they are. Um how are you helping these companies get it right? Well, we try to talk to them and figure out what would be best for their employees. For some, it's sending a random gift at a random time with a very personal note. Um they're all handwritten. As I said, we write them, but you tell us what to write. Um, and that honestly sticks out more than the actually delicious treat. People really comment on the the handwritten note. Another thing that we work with companies if they're having a meeting coming up where they're going to have either virtual or in person with, let's say, their team, we will send them all, you know, a a little box of souar. Even if it's a virtual meeting of 20, 30 people on your team where you know you're going to be on for 2, three hours and you know they're going to have their their cup of coffee over here, you just send them a little treat so they all have a little like sweet treat to get them through the long meeting and let them know that you know it it's the same as if you were there. If you were there in a conference room for three or four hours, inevitably there would be coffee in the corner and a tray of something. So we try to replicate that with with the clients at home. So, it's really talking to our corporate clients and finding out what works best for them and then sharing what we've learned. I mean, one big thing is don't just give to the holidays. Much better to gift even Thanksgiving. It's early in the season. It's not tied to a religious holiday that someone may or may not celebrate. And it's really a holiday about showing gratitude and thankfulness. So, so people shift to that. So, it's really just talking to the client and figuring out what works best for them so that their employees really do feel seen, heard, and appreciated. That's great. And and I love that. So, do you practice penmanship?

Yes. Well, it's funny because when I started almost nine years ago, it'll be nine years in June. Wow. It was just me and I was handwritten writing the notes like why not? And it's funny because that's one of the things that we never can get rid of now because people come to us for that personal touch. So yes, we do have people with really good penmanship um that do help at the holiday. Sometimes it's me, sometimes it's my team, but yes, the notes come beautifully written. That that is great. I love that. Um and you know, for all of the schools and people out there that don't know how to write script and aren't teaching penmanship anymore, it's not dead. Like we we still need handwriting. Um and I I love that. I think it's such it adds such a personal touch like you said it's your words but our handwriting but the fact that it's handwritten and it's a thoughtful note really stands out and you know I think from the packaging to the handwritten notes and every detail you put so much thought into and kind of went beyond just a box of cookies you know um can you talk about a little bit What makes this different from a generic gift basket or a swag bag or, you know, picking up cookies at a regular bakery or or something to that effect? I think there's a few things that make it different. First of all, the actual Subarz, which is a cross between a biscotti and a cookie, is different from anything out there in the market. It comes in a variety of flavors, and we also have a gluten-free line. Um, and we do have options that are nut free, dairy free. I mean, anything you need, we can we can get you. Um, so that makes it unique. The way they're packaged, each little subarz is packaged in a little white doily. Also, something that I started way back when, which is very time consuming, but people like that. It feels very personal. It kind of feels like you have gone to the corner bakery 40 years ago and picked out the six cookies that you want to send to someone. The way that they're individually wrapped and then the box is tied with a beautiful ribbon. We do offer some customization for corporate clients. Sometimes they add a different ribbon with their logo or um a hang tag or what's called a bellyb band, which is like a cardboard thing that fits around the box. There are ways to personalize them also for your corporation which you wouldn't get when you just pick up cookies down the street, but it's really the whole experience. And then the handwritten note is really, you know, the icing on the cake. That is really great. And and I love it. I think like it it really does kind of bring you back and make you have like that home feeling even though it's something very different. like these aren't traditional chocolate chip cookies either, you know. Um, and I, you know, I know we we spoke about that a little bit more in our first show, but can you also just talk to us a little bit about the flavors and how you came up with this recipe being a cross between a cookie and a biscati because it is a very different type of a cookie and it's a very different type of a a texture and a flavor and just Yes. experience, which is what we're talking about as well. But, um, I want people to really kind of get what we're talking about when we talk about these cookies. You know, it's not your toll house homebaked like, you know, chocolate chip or peanut butter cookies. These are very different and unique and elevated um type of a a bar that I I don't even know like the words to really articulate it because it really is unique and and the flavors sometimes you look at them and you're like oh but then you taste them you're like oh right that's so thank you thank you and thank you for all those kind words so yes so originally I had liked to bake I have three daughters which really who really challenged me to start the business one who had severe food allergies. So, I had had a traditional mandleb bread recipe, which is kind of like an Eastern European Jewish biscati, but I had changed a little bit to accommodate her food allergies. And that's really where the original recipe came from, the traditional chocolate chip with the cinnamon sugar. People loved those and they wanted me to they encouraged me for many years to kind of make them and sell them. Um, when I finally did, I wanted to change it up just a little bit. Number one, a traditional biscotti or mando bread, you know, every piece is not the same. I needed to come up with something uniform and I wanted the texture to be the same on the first bite and the last bite. So, I worked on that recipe for a while and then I also, this was back in 2016 that I launched. So originally a lot they were used a lot in you know inerson events and live events and I wanted something that would be easy for people to eat if they were in a group or a business meeting. So it's they're literally three bites. They don't have frosting. They're not going to get all over the place. Like they're just an easy delicious treat. So, when I came up with the traditional chocolate chip, the first flavor, I then decided to keep it simple based on what many other business owners said to me, um, and just expand in the flavor. So, from there, every month we came up with a new flavor. Um, and all of them kind of have a story. There's the traditional chocolate chip. There's the double dark chocolate almond. We have a salted apricot caramel, which in my mind was originally going to be a caramel apple flavor because it came out in the fall. And a friend of mine said, "Have you ever tried like use a stone fruit? Come up with something that's different." And that's where the apricot came up. Um lemon thyme, which is one of the most popular, was one of those flavors. Is it? Yeah. People love lemon time and that was one where I was going to do something with lemon. So I kind of every month knew like a general flavor. I knew I wanted a lemon one and my sister said you should try to bake with an herb. And I'm like no I've never done that. She goes just try rosemary thyme, you know, right? Try basil. She said try something. So I try I researched and I experimented and the lemon thyme came up and a lot of people will be like lemon thyme and then they taste it and it becomes their favorite. So that's happened with a few flavors. Yeah, that's great. And are you still exploring with flavors? Do you come out with a new one every month? Still we don't because it got because of some of it was because of the labeling requirements. So every time we have a new flavor, we need to go through a different approval process. Um so we do have some flavors that come out every so often, but generally now we have all of our flavors available all year long. We no longer have seasonal flavors. So you can get chocolate peppermint now because people love it. So we have over 20 varieties. So right now we're kind of just holding still with those, but we do experiment every once in a while. And I think maybe our we've never done a pumpkin one and we've never done a cranberry and people have asked for those. So that may be on the horizon. We'll see. Oo, those sound delicious. And I mean people go crazy for pumpkin. So I could only imagine how how that one might take off, especially in the fall. It's like pumpkin spice everything. So, I'm interested to see what little spin you have on it because like I said, nothing is ever really traditional with a Subarz. Um, how do you help busy professionals and companies simplify, you know, gifting with the personal touch? You spoke a little bit about how, you know, you can kind of customize these customize these boxes and create these gifts to be even more unique than they are. Um, what are some of the ideas that you work with your clients to make that experience a personal one? So, we try to make it easy and personal. Exactly. So, to make it easy, what we do is if they're going to, let's say a company is going to want to send a box of two bars to all their employees for the year. January 1, we just set up a Google doc that has all their employees and their birth dates in there. They can add and take away from that Google doc. you know, if somebody leaves or somebody comes or I guess a birthday would never change. Um, and then every week we will send out for the birthdays in that week and they don't have to worry about it. And the end of the month we send them an invoice itemized. They know what's been sent to who um, and they don't have to worry about it. So, it's really after we meet with them, we'll kind of take their information and we take it from there. Nobody needs to sit down on our website and input in 50 or 100 addresses for their employees. We take it, we take the entire process over. And then to make it personalized, some people will send the same note. Some companies may have, you know, they're going to give on a birthday as well as an anniversary as well as the completion of a project. They may have five or six different kinds of notes in our quote library for that client. And they can say, "Oh, look, this is coming up. I want to send note A to these 30 people." We pull that note. We know it says, "Dear Stephanie," we always put the name, you know, "Congratulations on finishing up your latest project. We look forward to, you know, continuing to work with you or something like that." So, we always will personalize with the name, but there will be, you know, different form notes, which makes it easier. They also have the option to send us the text for 30 different notes. It doesn't matter, but usually after a while, we can kind of cut and paste from certain notes for them to make their life easier. That's great. And it really kind of makes it a no-brainer. It makes it super easy, super personal, and super meaningful, you know. Um, setting up a Google Doc, I mean, yes, if you have thousands and thousands of employees, it might take you a minute or two, you know, um, but that's all information you already have and you kind of just reformat it and send it over and what's done is done. And you know, if someone does leave the company, it's kind of like the same way you would delete their email address. You go in there and just kind of remove that line item and and take it from there, which just makes it so easy, which is so nice. Um, you've worked with a lot of different organizations, a lot of different causes and communities. Um, how has giving back shaped the business and your community relationships? Well, giving back has always been important to us from the beginning. It's really part of our mission, our underlying desire. I feel very fortunate that my business has now been around for nine years. Um, it's it's been a tough economy. We went through COVID, we're going through, you know, some difficult times now in the economy, but we've survived and I I'm very grateful for that. And and one way to show that gratitude is really to give back. So, we've given back in various ways and it's really been very fulfilling. During the pandemic, we hired a bunch of unemployed local hairdressers, restaurant workers, all that to kind of make our all of our local deliveries. So, rather than paying the postage and shipping them through UPS and USPS, I hired these individuals and I gave them the exact same price. So, they actually made some good money um that I would have paid for shipping and they delivered them and it was great. they got some money, they were busy, and people actually loved having someone ring the bell and hand them a bag versus a box appearing in the mailbox. Um, since then, we've partnered with various organizations. We partnered with the Oscar Litwac Foundation that supplies mobile playrooms to hospitals and we recently donated a mobile playroom to Yeah. to the um PACU at Cedar Sinai Hospital. and it's basically a cart that has toys for kids to play with while they're in the hospital. Now, we're partnering with Everyday Action, which is another great organization. They repurpose unused food from movie sets, telev television productions, and even some grocery stores and pick that up and deliver it to those that have food insecurity or unhoused. and we support them by donating back a portion of some of our sales as well as donating actual product. That's amazing and that's so nice and kind of you. Um, and it, you know, it really does make a difference and it's it's nice to feel like you're able to have or touch these people in a way that maybe you wouldn't have been able to before and be involved in a way that you maybe wouldn't have been able to before. Um, you know, it's it's really I love when I hear things like that, especially, you know, giving back to food and children and stuff and and everybody could do something in a small way, but it has such a big impact for those that are receiving it. And I think that that's really special and and what people don't always kind of think about, but that's really what it's all about is, you know, these children are now having these toys and being able to play and and be kids in a hospital that, you know, who knows why they're really there, but um it's obviously not a good reason and they're probably there for a long time, right? So to allow them to just be children or to have these delicious cookies or be able to fund people um repurposing food to be able to give people food that can't afford it or you know don't have a home is really really special and you know thank you for doing that. It's it's really meaningful and amazing. Um thank you. Thank you. One thing we recently did also is after the fires, you know, out in LA, we were we had some devastating fires in January and what we did is if people let us know about people that were lost their homes or had relocated because we didn't really have access to where they were, we would send them just a box of two bars. or somebody who's living in a hotel or even living with a family um or families that took in, you know, people who had lost their homes. We just sent them a little box because I feel like they they needed everything at that point and they there was places where they could pick up clothing and some of those things, but there was never anything kind of extra for them and they had been through horrific things. So, we just sent them box of sweets and said, "We know you're going through a tough time, but just, you know, here's just a little sweetness." And hopefully that made an impact. I don't know if it did, but we do try to constantly look at what's going on out there and really reach out to people and just really try to make things just a little bit sweeter. We're all going through things and everyone can just use a little a little extra something. It's the truth. I mean, I tell, you know, my daughter, too, like you never know what somebody is dealing with. So, just always be kind. You know, a smile is free and sometimes that smile means something to to somebody. And I think your cookies definitely made a difference in those people's lives in, you know, adding a little bit of sweetness and just being feeling like they're taken care of and and that they're being seen. You know, you you those fires were devastating and people truly lost everything. So to show a little appreciation and to give a little back where there's nothing, I'm sure, you know, sparked some type of uh heartstrings and and meaningfulness of okay, I'm not alone here. I hope so. I hope so. I mean, that was our intention. So hopefully it made someone's feel a little bit better. Yeah. Um, you know, many listeners are probably thinking about gifting now that we've been talking about it for a while. um whether it's clients or friends or teams or you know a friend or whatever it might be. What advice do you give them when choosing a gift and how to make it meaningful? One some advice I would give to someone is just do it. Like don't overthink the gift whatever it is. Um I've been in situations where I feel like I years ago I would overthink what to send someone. you know, if someone passed away, I would overthink what to say. Just say something or just send something. Um, sever about four or five years ago, one of my daughters was battling cancer. She's fine, but we were, it was during COVID and we were very isolated and very overwhelmed. And I got notes and little gifts from people that I did not expect in meals. And it was so heartwarming. and my husband and I used to turn to each other and say, "Oh my gosh, for so long we always kind of overthought things where you should just send something, even if it's something small or send a text or send an email, just make that connection." Um, it almost doesn't even matter what you say, but just let someone know that you know they're going through a hard time. Um, and since we experienced that and we benefited from so much kindness, my advice is just do something. Don't even overthink it. just get something on the way because people really appreciate being being seen and knowing that they're cared for. Yeah, definitely. And I'm so happy to hear that your daughter is doing well and and is doing better. Um, you know, especially during that time where she had to be alone probably for, you know, treatments and and things like that. So, it's really nice when people do reach out and just show you that they're thinking about you. And what better way than with a a Subarz. um what flavors do you think people should send um to feel appreciated and and why would you choose those flavors? So, it really depends on what they're doing. Around the holidays, people do love sending the chocolate peppermint. We also have a spiced fig that we kind of call the adult fig newton. Yeah, that one's really yummy. So, it really depends. Um, if you don't really know a lot about what the recipient's flavor preferences are, a lot of people will send the lemon time or just the traditional chocolate chip. Um, the lemon time is really popular and easy because there's no nuts, no dairy, no chocolate. So, really, there's nothing really in there unless someone has an aversion to lemon that somebody wouldn't like. So, it really just depends on the type of year and what you think the recipient would like. There's really fun flavors. We have a great one that has sprinkles. Um, it's very popular during Pride Month in June. Um, a lot of people send it then. So, there's just it really just depends on what you're looking for. But there is really something for everyone. Yeah, that seems great. And, you know, I would say some of those flavors might seem a little strange, but give them a try because they really are truly delicious. um you know, do you also offer um like cookie tables for corporate events or birthday parties? Do you do you do anything like that where you can ship like a big order or set something up locally where maybe businesses are having, you know, um some type of a an office suare or something like that. Yes, we do it in many ways. We do ship in bulk. So, if somebody's going to have an event or a conference, we've done it before where we'll ship several thousand and their staff will actually plate them and put them out. Um, also what some companies will do is they'll buy, you know, several of our little threeacks because postco some people would prefer to have a prepackaged item than walk up to where it's just out there. So, a lot of times companies will buy, you know, hundreds of those. They'll be out in baskets and someone can pick a threeack of whatever flavor they're feeling like. So, yeah, we do work that way with companies for inerson events. Yeah. And those little ones are also really great to um as like favors, like party favors, which is really nice. Exactly. People have used them in very creative ways. People have used them at weddings. Some people have put had given them to the valet and when people pick up their cars, the three-pack is in there with a little note attached saying, you know, thank you for coming. Um, we've we're working with a couple conference planners right now. They're using them in their little giveaway swag bags when people come to the conference. They're in there. There's so many ways to use the three-packs. Yeah, that's really great. And um so cute and great ideas, right? I mean, I would have never thought to give them to the valet and have it just sitting in your car at the end of the night. That's so genius, right? Exactly. I mean, there's just or some people use them as actually the place card. They'll have their place setting. You know, when you come to a wedding, it has your name and the table on a hang tag on the three-pack that they take to the table and then they also have, you know, a little snack if they don't want to wait for the for the meal or to take home with them. Yeah. Yeah, that's a great idea. Um so many ideas and so many ways to be able to use, you know, these delicious bars. Um really the possibilities are endless. It really kind of goes beyond just gifting, you know. It it really goes goes beyond just gifting. um what you know looking ahead what would you say are some opportunities that you have and maybe some challenges that that you have faced or or think you may be facing. I know you know you spoke a little bit about the economy and I have clients that are feeling it as well with shipping and getting product and and getting um ingredients and things like that. But in in from what you're doing and your perspective, what are some opportunities as well as challenges in the next year or two? So I'll talk about challenges first. Um, I think challenges were really supply chain issues that were going on. They are kind of working themselves out a little bit, but several month several months ago I was having a hard time even getting enough eggs to really, you know, make it work as well as flour. I mean, the costs have were were crazy expensive as well as just I couldn't find them. I I was able to get through it all. We did find some different sources. So, that's really been um a challenge. Looking forward, I think we will be doing more in the corporate gifting space. These conferences have really taken off this year where they're ordering, you know, many of those three packs to give out or shipping them after the fact as a thank you to either the attendees or the speakers. So, I think that's kind of where we're going. I think people are realizing the importance of that personal touch and just sending something to someone after an event as really a reminder. Yeah. And that's so nice, you know, again, great idea. People have great ideas. I didn't come up with them all. I just am learning from everyone around me. Yeah. But still, I mean, you know, it's it you go home after a conference, if whether you're on stage or not, and you're kind of doing your follow-ups and not really thinking anything about it. And it's like, thank you for speaking or or thank you for attending. And that that really goes a long way, especially if you're paying to travel, you're paying for the ticket, you know what I mean? and and all of that. So, that's really sweet. Um, scaling a business and being a business owner is comes with its own set of challenges um and lessons. You know, I'm sure there's lots of lessons that we could both share. What are some lessons that you've learned about growth and operational efficiency over the past year? Um, your business has taken a big shift. you know, the direct to consumer stuff is still available and still there, but moving into more corporate gifting is is a little different. What have you learned along the way? Um, I think with regard to scaling and growing that thing is really having good processes in place. You know, I have SOPs for everything in my company. You know, from the the littlest thing that you think would be obvious onto something more complicated. And it's interesting without them, you don't realize how many things can be interpreted a different way. So I can ask someone on my team to do let's say you know input these 200 orders from this one client that has 200 addresses but if you don't explain exactly how you like it so it works efficiently it's not going to happen. So we've really broken down all of our processes documented them all and they're in the SOPs. Um the other thing is to not be scared of growth. In the beginning, even when I first started out, I loved it and I wanted to grow, but I was really scared of putting systems into place to allow it to grow. I started out of my home kitchen and when it came too big for that and I had to move to a commercial kitchen with a staff there, I was scared and I kind of hesitated and I waited too long to do that. Um just advice to someone would be just allow it to grow and don't be scared and just try new things but always keep everything documented and systems in place so that you always know how everything's going to flow. Yeah. Um those are some really good lessons and I think you know fear definitely holds us back sometimes and I think it's great to kind of let that go and just do it. You know what's the worst that can happen? and it doesn't work, right? You take a step back. Um, so for aspiring entrepreneurs in the food industry looking to build a business, what you know, one, what's the key piece of advice that you would give them? It's not an easy market, you know, and being in the food industry, there's so much that you do have to think about with allergies and what people like and and I feel like sometimes that could also go down a rabbit hole in of itself, right? Are people going to like this? Are they going to eat it? Do I need to have a different, you know, ingredient? Do I have to have different versions? What would be a piece of advice for someone in the food industry that's looking to get started? I think a good piece of advice and I received it from others both in the food industry and other industries is keep it simple. So when I decided to leave the practice of law and launch super sweets, I knew I wanted to do this one product which was our traditional chocolate chip. But then I thought, "Oh, well, if I can do that, I can then do cupcakes and I can do cakes and I can do brownies." And someone said, "Keep it simple." And I I'm really glad I did because we got one product down and we're able to expand in the different flavors, but I kept it very simple on what we were doing and that really helped. I think if I would have started doing various other baked goods, I I'm not sure would have had the impact and I would have been as successful as I was. Because once I had the one product and people were sending them, you know, the direct to consumer and people were enjoying them, then suddenly people were asking me about gifting and I realized it was very easy to transition because we had one product. It was shipped one way. It was packaged one way. It was prepared one way. We were able to kind of shift and do different things. So, so keep it simple. And the other bit of advice is don't be scared. Like just do it. As you just said, if it doesn't work out, that's okay. But you got to try it and don't let fear get in your way. I love that. I love that. Well, Daphne, thank you so much for being here. This is really great. I love seeing how your business has grown, how things have shifted. You know, you never know where you're going to be in a year, right? And the fact that you've been in business for nine years. Wow, that's amazing. Um, congratulations. Are there any future developments or plans or sneak peeks of anything that you're working on that you can give us a glimpse into? Not too much that I can give you a glimpse into, but really you'll probably hopefully be seeing Subarz at more and more events and we do ship nationwide. So, if you haven't seen them yet, you may see them in in your neighborhoods. Awesome. Well, thank you again. Um, if our listeners want to work with you, um, you know, continue the conversation, learn more about your product or find your product, where can they find you? So, the best way to find our product is on our website, which is www.subarzsweets.com. Um, or anyone can email me directly at Daphne @subarzsweets.com and I would love to help them. Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Daphne. This is really great. I really appreciate the time and I hope that in our next conversation we are talking about Subarz being everywhere and so many people already knowing the brand. So I appreciate your time and thank you so much. Thank you Stephanie. I love chatting with you. And to all our listeners, thank you so much. you know, please order your Subarz now and if you have any questions or, you know, want to set up a subscription or anything, please reach out to Daphne. Um, this was a fun episode and please don't forget to subscribe, like, and share. Until next time, everybody.