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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.

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Speaker 2: John's four more days until Valentine's Day, and in honor

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Speaker 2: of the holiday, Baked by Melissa is highlighting the idea

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Speaker 2: that opposites attract. The brand has teamed up with Tabasco

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Speaker 2: and Cabot Creamery to curate an assortment of cupcakes that

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Speaker 2: highlight the unique flavor pairings. Joining us now to discuss

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Speaker 2: is Melissa Benischi, the CEO and founder of Baked by Melissa.

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Speaker 2: Great to see you here, Thanks for joining us, Thanks

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Speaker 2: for having me so tell us how Tabasco and cupcakes

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Speaker 2: go together?

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Speaker 1: Well. I love bringing flavor pairings together that are maybe

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Speaker 1: unexpected duos, especially for Valentine's Day, and what better than

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Speaker 1: spicy and sweet? Just like a lot of people like

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Speaker 1: I'm the sweet one, my husband is the spicy one.

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Speaker 1: So for Valentine's Day, we thought it would be fun

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Speaker 1: to collaborate with Sabasco and Cabot to bring some unexpected

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Speaker 1: duos and bring flavors together that you would never expect

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Speaker 1: work so well.

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Speaker 2: These are our limited offerings though it's not something you're

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Speaker 2: going to introduce to the permanent collection.

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Speaker 1: Correct. They are available only right now. For Valentine's Day.

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Speaker 1: You could go to Baked buy Melissa dot com, get them,

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Speaker 1: ship them anywhere in the country, order for pickupper delivery

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Speaker 1: in the New York area, and make your Valentine's very happy.

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Speaker 2: I'm glad you mentioned the different platforms that you can

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Speaker 2: get the cupcakes at. Can you tell us a little

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Speaker 2: bit about how you're thinking about distribution, whether it's Baked

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Speaker 2: by Melissa dot Com versus the brick and mortar store

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Speaker 2: in places like New York City versus other third party sellers. Sure?

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Speaker 1: So we see Baked by Melissa dot Com as our

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Speaker 1: flagship store. You could go there to get your own

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Speaker 1: cupcakes chipped to you or pick them up or like.

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Speaker 1: That is our core business and we are still shipping

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Speaker 1: for Valentine's Day, So if you're listening right now, take

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Speaker 1: care of everyone you love. And then we also sell

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Speaker 1: our cupcakes on Frush Direct and in some other places,

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Speaker 1: but mostly our stores and on our website.

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Speaker 2: Okay, And you know you're kind of counting on people

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Speaker 2: stopping by and being just so wowed by the flavors

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Speaker 2: available that they were going to pick up not just

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Speaker 2: one box, but maybe two boxes or three boxes as well.

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Speaker 2: You know that impulsive purchase. One thing that we should

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Speaker 2: mention is that you are a TikTok star. You show

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Speaker 2: up every day, You've got new content coming out every day.

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Speaker 2: And the thing that's interesting, of course, is that it's

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Speaker 2: not just about dessert or cupcakes. It's much bigger than that.

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Speaker 1: It is. I actually I am an accidental TikTok star.

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Speaker 1: I went on to TikTok as a way to learn

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Speaker 1: how to use the app so I could give my

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Speaker 1: team actionable feedback in twenty twenty during COVID, and in

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Speaker 1: order to learn it, I started recording myself making dinner

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Speaker 1: or dessert for my family because I do that every

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Speaker 1: day too. And the videos just started taking off and

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Speaker 1: I recognize every opportunity and create some myself. So I

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Speaker 1: knew it was something that I couldn't pass up, and

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Speaker 1: I kept posting recipes. So I post a new recipe

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Speaker 1: every single day on TikTok and on Instagram. And then

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Speaker 1: there's also behind the scenes footage of me a baked

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Speaker 1: by Melissa in the bakery making the cupcake footage. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's such an awesome tool to share who I am.

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Speaker 1: Who Baked by Melissa is as a brand, what we

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Speaker 1: stand for and what we do every day.

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Speaker 2: So does that mean that you're going to bring some

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Speaker 2: of what you've done on social media on TikTok to

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Speaker 2: the Baked by Melissa Brand? I mean, could you expand

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Speaker 2: beyond cupcakes and bring me in some of the goods

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Speaker 2: that you make at home for your audience.

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Speaker 1: Anything is possible. So I do have a New York

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Speaker 1: Times bestselling cokebook called Come Hungry, and it has so

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Speaker 1: many of the recipes that I make on social media,

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Speaker 1: and there may be more to come in the future.

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Speaker 1: And I also share I have a sub sec and

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Speaker 1: I share my recipes with that community as well.

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Speaker 2: So available on different platforms. I got to ask you

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Speaker 2: about the cost of ingredients because we know that a

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Speaker 2: dozen eggs is now really expensive. Cocoa prices have been

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Speaker 2: going up and up over the last couple of years.

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Speaker 2: You think about Valentine's Day and how expensive chocolate has become.

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Speaker 2: How are you coping with that? How are you who

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Speaker 2: buying the ingredients in advance to the extent that you can?

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Speaker 2: Are you hedging any of these costs?

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Speaker 1: We do everything that we can, and we're constantly paying

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Speaker 1: very close attention to our margins. We have adjusted pricing

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Speaker 1: over the years. We've been in business for over sixteen years,

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Speaker 1: and the quality of our product is my top priority.

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Speaker 1: We make them small so you could try them all,

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Speaker 1: you could ship them anywhere in the United States States,

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Speaker 1: and they arrive perfectly fresh and safe. And so for

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Speaker 1: now we are just we have a very close eye

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Speaker 1: on our cost of goods.

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Speaker 2: After Valentine's Day, when is the next big holiday? What's

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Speaker 2: the next big event for Baked by Melissa after Valentine?

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Speaker 1: Well, I personally am very excited for International Women's Month

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Speaker 1: or sorry, Women's History Month, and then after that we

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Speaker 1: have Mother's Day, which is a really big holiday for

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Speaker 1: us at Baked by Melissa.

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Speaker 2: And how early do you start planning the venue or.

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Speaker 1: We're planning I we're planned out Christmas. We're planned out

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Speaker 1: through the summer right now. But we have so many

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Speaker 1: moments throughout the year. We celebrate birthdays. It's one of

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Speaker 1: it is our single biggest holiday throughout the year. We

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Speaker 1: do a ton of birthdays all year round. We have Easter,

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Speaker 1: we have seen Patty's Day, cupcakes, you name it. And

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Speaker 1: it's just so fun to be that bright light in

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Speaker 1: people's lives. During good times and bad and stressful times,

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Speaker 1: and you know, in a time when you kind of

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Speaker 1: can't believe reality a lot of the time.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, but you know we can all find comfort in

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Speaker 2: a cupcake that brings you back to your childhood exactly. Melissa,

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Speaker 2: thank you so much for joining us today.

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Speaker 1: Thanks appreciating.

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Speaker 2: Melissa Benischi is a CEO and founder of BIGD. By

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Speaker 2: Melissa