WEBVTT - Sweet Success w/ Candace Nelson 0:00:01.080 --> 0:00:04.160 Welcome to Go, Ask Alli, a production of Shonda Land 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:08.520 Audio and partnership with I Heart Radio. When I have 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:11.240 been with friends and that happened and I paid my pants, 0:00:11.320 --> 0:00:14.960 I did lose the room, they did leave. I saw 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:16.759 her light up and I was like, I'm just going 0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:19.600 to work, but we are here until one of our 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:22.079 last breaths. I was just the one that was meant 0:00:22.079 --> 0:00:23.800 to take care of mamma. It's for me to remember 0:00:23.840 --> 0:00:26.800 every single day is that I always have a choice. 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:30.600 Everyone always has a choice. Whenever somebody says no, you 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:34.680 can't or there's no rules for you, or you have 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:38.160 to look like this, I go. I'll show you. I'll 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:44.599 show you. Welcome to Go, ask Allie. I'm Alli Wentworth 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:49.159 and I have an idea for New Year's Eve. Besides 0:00:49.159 --> 0:00:53.520 a little champagne, I thought I'd have little chocolate cupcakes 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:57.440 with silver balls on them. I know, very exciting, but 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:00.440 I'm a baker and I love to make annies and 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:03.319 Hello dollies and chocolate chip cookies and cakes. I mean, 0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:06.560 there's a reason George Stephanopoulos married me, and it's not 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:08.959 because I have a great ass. Actually, on one of 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:11.680 our first dates, I made a turkey bolonnaise, and a 0:01:11.760 --> 0:01:14.319 chocolate cake that had him get up on the table 0:01:14.440 --> 0:01:17.400 and howl at the moon. So I love anything baked, 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:19.880 which is why I'm so excited for my guest today 0:01:19.920 --> 0:01:24.400 because she is the pre eminent cupcake creator, Candice Nelson. 0:01:25.080 --> 0:01:28.399 She's an entrepreneur, New York Times best selling author, and 0:01:28.480 --> 0:01:32.760 Wall Street Journal contributor. Through her most recent book, Sweet Success, 0:01:33.160 --> 0:01:37.039 Candice shares her recipe for turning passion into profit. Listen, 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:40.520 if you've ever visited a revolutionary Sprinkles bakery or a 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:44.520 Pizzana pizzeria that, my friends is Candice Nelson and you 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:47.120 might know or has a judge on Netflix's Sugar Rush 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:51.040 and Food Networks had one of my favorite shows, Cupcake Wars. 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:53.760 She's a co creator and executive producer of Who Who's 0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:57.600 Best in Dough? Yep, Candice Nelson has it all going 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:05.240 on both sweet and savory. Candice Nelson. So, I'm looking 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:08.079 at you in a split screen on my computer and 0:02:08.160 --> 0:02:13.960 you have perfectly wavy hair dewey makeup. So thank you 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:17.520 for looking so glamorous for us. It is my pleasure. 0:02:17.560 --> 0:02:20.280 I am honored to be here. Well, I'm so happy 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:23.240 to be here. With you because I haven't seen you 0:02:23.320 --> 0:02:26.960 in like over ten years, and the last time I 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:31.000 saw you, I had just stuffed a red, velvet sprinkled 0:02:31.040 --> 0:02:34.960 cupcake in my mouth. I had started a nonprofit in Washington, 0:02:35.040 --> 0:02:38.560 d c U called Baby Love, and you gave us 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:43.160 a big fat check, and I thank you for that. Well, 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:45.600 my goodness, that was a really fun event, and thank 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:48.320 you for including us in that, of course, and so 0:02:48.440 --> 0:02:52.760 impressive to me because I thought, you know, here's a cupcake. 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:56.480 We all love to eat, whether we're pretending to watch 0:02:56.480 --> 0:02:59.600 our weight or not. And you know, you were so 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:03.720 from the beginning so philanthropic that I just thought, what 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:11.160 incredible organization. And now, Candice Nelson, you are an empire. 0:03:11.200 --> 0:03:15.320 You are not just delicious cupcakes that I gave everybody 0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:19.480 whenever I could. But you have your book coming out, 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:23.080 you have TV shows. I mean, there's a lot to 0:03:23.160 --> 0:03:26.280 dig into here, which I'm very excited about. But let's 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:28.520 let's start from the beginning, because I like to I 0:03:28.560 --> 0:03:32.600 like to tell a story. So you're, what is it 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:36.560 right to say, an investment banker? That's what you started out? Yes, 0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:39.440 I mean it real investment bankers would kind of raise 0:03:39.480 --> 0:03:42.040 their eyebrows at that because I was just out of 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:47.480 undergrad So I was a financial analyst in corporate finance, um, 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:51.240 working with all the bankers. Right, okay, so we'll call 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:55.000 you a banker of sorts investment banking. Yes, you were 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:59.160 wearing your ant tailor suit and your heels, and one 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:01.960 day you just how didn't you know that? I just 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:05.160 just to guess and you decided, you know, damn it, 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:08.040 I want to bake. How did that happen? How did 0:04:08.040 --> 0:04:10.480 that decision come to you? And why didn't I do 0:04:10.520 --> 0:04:16.840 that when I could? I was sort of the unlikely entrepreneur. 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:20.239 I was raised in this family that was very risk averse. 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:25.080 My dad was a corporate lawyer, very loyal employee. Over time, 0:04:25.560 --> 0:04:29.120 we were taught that education was the way, um, you know, 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:31.960 get a job at a great company and climb the 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:36.359 corporate ladder to success and stability. And so I was 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:39.280 well on my way to doing that. I started at 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:41.560 the investment bank as a financial analyst. Then I went 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:44.559 to an internet startup. It was the dot com boom 0:04:44.560 --> 0:04:48.040 of the late nineties, and then two things happened. One, 0:04:48.800 --> 0:04:51.039 the dot com bust happened, So I was out of 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:53.440 a job. So I had done all the quote unquote 0:04:53.520 --> 0:04:56.839 right things, and I was completely unemployed with no prospects. 0:04:57.200 --> 0:04:59.800 And then the next thing that happened not that long after. 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:03.680 It was nine eleven, and so I mean it was 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:07.280 just recently married. I was so excited about life and optimistic, 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:08.880 and then all of a sudden there was this dark 0:05:08.880 --> 0:05:12.479 shadow over everything. But what it really crystallized for me 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:15.880 was the fact that life can be really fleeting and 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:18.839 there is no security and despite all your best intentions, 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:22.839 your best laid plan, like it can all evaporate tomorrow. 0:05:23.000 --> 0:05:26.040 And so for me that was a really that was 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:28.719 an AHA moment um. You know, I've done all the 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:30.960 right things. I was without a job. I was now 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:33.279 questioning what I wanted to do with my life. It 0:05:33.320 --> 0:05:35.840 was the first time I'd really asked myself that question, 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:38.120 like what do I want to do? What do I 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:39.680 want to do that brings me joy? And what do 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:42.479 I want to do that actually has some meaning and 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:45.000 gives back to the world, even if it's in a 0:05:45.160 --> 0:05:48.480 very small way, like a piece of cake. So I 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:51.400 took my first step off that well trodden path, and 0:05:51.440 --> 0:05:54.360 I decided to go to pastry school instead of business school. 0:05:55.080 --> 0:05:59.080 So much more fun, by the way, so much more fun. Yeah, 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:02.160 and were you always a baker? I mean I've always 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:05.279 been a baker. I've been baking my whole life, and 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:08.560 I've always baked with my kids. Even now that they're teenagers, 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:11.000 I still forced them to bake with me. But so 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:14.560 it is, it is something that you either gravitate towards 0:06:14.560 --> 0:06:17.599 and love to do or not. I find there's the 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:21.080 bakers and the non bakers. I totally agree with you. 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:25.080 I think there's definitely a divide, and I'm so happy 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:27.360 you're on my side of the divide alley. I feel 0:06:27.360 --> 0:06:29.479 like we could start a baking gang, girl gang, you 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:33.960 and me, um, you know, mean girl bakers. But I 0:06:34.000 --> 0:06:36.679 actually started baking with my mom, just like so many 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:39.640 kids do. And but it was extra meaningful for me 0:06:39.720 --> 0:06:43.279 because I was growing up as an expat. I was 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:45.840 living in Southeast Asia a lot of my childhood, and 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:49.160 so you know, this was pre internet. This was back 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:52.720 when long long distance calls were expensive and they dropped, 0:06:52.760 --> 0:06:55.240 and so really the only way for me to have 0:06:55.240 --> 0:06:58.960 a connection to my homeland was through food, and I 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:01.400 couldn't get the foods that I craved from home, like 0:07:01.440 --> 0:07:03.960 there were no Rice Crispy treats at the corner store 0:07:04.120 --> 0:07:07.160 in made on Sumatra, so I had to learn to 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:10.360 bake them myself. And I spent hours in the kitchen 0:07:10.480 --> 0:07:13.240 baking with my mom. We cooked from her m Joy 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:16.320 of Cooking cookbook, and I still remember to this day 0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:19.360 it was like all stained and dog eared, and you 0:07:19.360 --> 0:07:22.400 could tell which recipes were our favorites. And you know, 0:07:22.400 --> 0:07:25.160 I made all the classics, like brownies and you know, 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:29.080 rice Crispy treats, chocsate cookies, sheet cakes. Remember Cooca Cola cake? 0:07:29.160 --> 0:07:32.600 We may cola cake. I remember too. I remember my 0:07:32.680 --> 0:07:36.200 mother's cookbook and my grandmother's cookbook and there would be 0:07:36.240 --> 0:07:40.280 the old crane stationary with like notes written on it 0:07:40.480 --> 0:07:43.920 shoved in. For us it was the Fannie Farmer Cookbook. 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:47.560 But you know, there is such a sense of history, 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:51.680 and you know, culturally people hand down food recipes as 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:55.680 kind of a way of of handing down history, and 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:58.480 I think that that's true for every family. There are 0:07:58.600 --> 0:08:02.360 certain things in our family, certain dishes, um, my mother's 0:08:02.480 --> 0:08:06.320 cram caramel. That's like even the smell of it reminds 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:09.320 me of my childhood. So I I completely get the 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:13.680 nostalgia for food that we grew up with. It's so visceral. 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:17.480 And you know those cookbooks, gosh, I hope you still 0:08:17.520 --> 0:08:20.320 have them with the notes, you know, the cards and 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:23.040 just the notes right on the recipes themselves. There's those 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:27.520 are such family heirlooms. And I always encourage people who have, 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:30.440 you know, family members who are getting older that have 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:33.560 their special secret recipe to really get in the kitchen 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:37.679 with them and try to learn it or write it down, 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:41.280 because it's always so sad to me when those recipes 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:44.400 that are in someone's head get lost forever. Yes, except 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:47.600 for my grandmother's prune whip. That's a recipe I let 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:51.480 go that could be lost forever and no one was sad. No, 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:53.760 nobody will miss it and nobody will be sad. Well 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:58.240 with the name like prune went well exactly, they should 0:08:58.280 --> 0:09:00.800 have come up with something like very wings or you know, 0:09:00.880 --> 0:09:03.280 but no, it's prune whip and it is what it says, 0:09:03.480 --> 0:09:06.439 and nobody wants it. It was just bad marketing. Yes, 0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:10.319 so you go to pastry school and what was it 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:13.880 about the cupcake that stood out for you so initially? 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:17.000 I mean, I just loved going to pastry school. Initially, 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:19.360 I was going just to test my interest, because a 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:20.920 lot of us have I mean, look at you. You're 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:23.120 a baker and you love it as a hobby you 0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:25.600 do with your family, But did you make a career 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:28.199 out of it. No. A lot of people have passions 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:31.600 and hobbies that aren't necessarily going to translate into a job. 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:34.080 So I wanted to test my interest. I wanted to 0:09:34.120 --> 0:09:37.960 test whether I even liked getting up every single day, 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:39.720 you know, putting on my chef whites and getting my 0:09:39.760 --> 0:09:43.920 hands sturdy and working with all these ingredients. It's physical work. 0:09:43.960 --> 0:09:45.600 It was the opposite of what I had been doing, 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:49.719 which was crunching numbers at a desk, and I loved it. 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:52.719 I loved it. Yeah. I mean I first of all 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:55.240 went to this really sweet pastry school in San Francisco. 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:57.920 It was like there was an organic garden in the back. 0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:01.000 There was sunlight streaming in. It was just like medicine 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:04.559 for my soul at that point in life, well, particularly 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:08.600 after nine eleven and you know all the tragedy that 0:10:09.679 --> 0:10:12.199 came from that. I would imagine that there was a 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:15.920 little bit of sort of escapism and magic to being 0:10:15.960 --> 0:10:20.560 at that pastry school so much. Yeah, I wanted to 0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:23.920 live in a magical world of like chocolate and sugar 0:10:24.000 --> 0:10:28.199 and you know, hand pies, and I love how tangible 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:31.280 it all was, you know, creating these delicious treats and 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:33.720 then being able to hand them to someone to watch 0:10:33.760 --> 0:10:36.080 them enjoy it. That was so the simplicity of that 0:10:36.160 --> 0:10:39.760 really really spoke to me. Your cup gigs had, well, 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:43.120 they are amazing, but at the time now, I think 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:45.000 we're in a little bit of a recession. When you 0:10:45.040 --> 0:10:49.000 started this, and I would imagine there were a lot 0:10:49.040 --> 0:10:52.040 of naysayers saying, are you out of your mind you 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:54.080 think that you can make a living making cupcakes, but 0:10:54.120 --> 0:10:58.200 that you had to have gotten tremendous feedback when people 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:03.000 ate these cupcakes. That's exactly how it happened. So when 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:06.760 I started considering the cupcake and sort of reinventing the 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:11.439 cupcake and the idea of the first cupcakes only bakery 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:14.480 came to me. Um, I realized that San Francisco, which 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:15.959 is where my husband and I were living at the time, 0:11:16.000 --> 0:11:17.720 was not the place because you're right, we had just 0:11:17.800 --> 0:11:20.240 gone through the dot com bust. It was, you know, 0:11:20.280 --> 0:11:23.840 the economy was in the doldrums, and so we figured 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:27.160 we had to set out for greener pastors, which ended 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:30.959 up being Los Angeles. And we got there and a 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:32.640 lot of our friends had moved down there at the time. 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:36.280 Spent a weekend and went to a few parties, and 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:39.720 all of the parties had the same cake. It was 0:11:39.840 --> 0:11:46.120 very bizarre. Really, they have cake in Los Angeles. Yeah, 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:48.680 that was MythBuster or number one. Everyone is nobody eats 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:50.320 cake in Los Angeles, but they do. But they were 0:11:50.360 --> 0:11:53.280 all eating the same cake. So I thought, Wow, I 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:55.880 think there's room for a little competition in this market. 0:11:56.679 --> 0:11:59.320 So I started selling my cupcakes out of my home 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:03.320 and people were like, you're crazy. I mean, no one 0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:06.120 in l A eats carbs. Also, by the way, it 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:09.800 was the height of the South Beach diet. Yeah, I 0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:11.320 mean it was like the South Beach iet was on 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:14.640 the New York Times Vesselling cookbook for like twenty weeks already. 0:12:14.800 --> 0:12:17.520 And as I drove around Los Angeles, I think coming 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:19.640 from somewhere else and being kind of an outsider to 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:22.160 l A was really an important part of the story 0:12:22.200 --> 0:12:24.640 because I was able to look at l A through 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:29.160 fresh eyes and see that there were a whole lot 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:32.600 of burger joints and donut shops on every corner. So 0:12:33.120 --> 0:12:35.400 I thought, you know what, I bet there's other people 0:12:35.400 --> 0:12:37.400 out there just like me who might be eating the 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:40.160 burger without the bun, but it's because they're saving room 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:43.640 for a really great dessert. And so I started baking 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:47.320 cupcakes out of my kitchen, and sure enough, word spread 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:50.160 and I developed this real cult following, even just out 0:12:50.160 --> 0:12:52.000 of my kitchen. So I was able to test my 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:54.560 thesis on a small scale. And that was just all 0:12:54.600 --> 0:12:56.360 that was kind of all the traction I needed. That 0:12:56.440 --> 0:12:58.520 was all the proof of concept I needed to go 0:12:58.600 --> 0:13:00.760 for it. Okay, so what's an X step? Do you 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:06.719 rent a space? Yes, so we rented a space. We 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:09.000 first thought, and I say we because my husband, Charles 0:13:09.080 --> 0:13:11.640 was my co founder and all of this and and 0:13:11.800 --> 0:13:14.360 has been my partner through all of our businesses. Oh yeah, 0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:17.520 we're gonna get to that. We're going to get to that. Okay, Okay, 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:21.560 So so we started looking for a location. But we 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:23.440 had a lot of trouble with that because, as you said, 0:13:23.480 --> 0:13:25.800 I mean, it was a new idea cupcakes only bakery. 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:29.520 We were reinventing the cupcake into something gourmet. Everyone thought 0:13:29.520 --> 0:13:32.120 it was ridiculous. Idea height of the low carb diet 0:13:32.160 --> 0:13:35.559 all of that, and so everybody said no. But we 0:13:35.760 --> 0:13:39.800 eventually found a spot, tiny little six hundred square foot 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:43.640 front and back retail kitchen in Beverly Hills and we 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:48.920 got to work transforming this little space. Everyone said, Beverly Hills, like, 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:52.199 that doesn't sound very scrappy. I thought you guys were 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:54.160 just like, you know, doing this sweet little cupcake shop. 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:56.920 And we said, you know what, location, location, location, And 0:13:56.960 --> 0:14:00.480 by the way, we are reinventing the cupcake into something 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:03.760 special and elevated and what's more perfect than a nine 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:07.160 o two and oh zip coat exactly, And so that 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:11.400 was the first Sprinkles. That was the first Sprinkles. Charles 0:14:11.400 --> 0:14:15.080 and I worked there every day. We spent a few 0:14:15.200 --> 0:14:18.400 nights on the kitchen floor, rolling up our aprons and 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:20.720 going to sleep because there's no time to go home 0:14:20.720 --> 0:14:22.440 and get any shout I before we had to come 0:14:22.480 --> 0:14:25.040 back and turn the ovens on. It was like drinking 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:27.600 from a fire hose from day one. And what was 0:14:27.640 --> 0:14:30.320 it in you and Charles that said, like we're going 0:14:30.400 --> 0:14:33.720 to persevere, this is going to happen, Like what is 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:37.640 that little voice in your head that sort of pushed 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:40.520 you to success. For so many people that want to 0:14:40.520 --> 0:14:44.000 start businesses and just go I can't. I can't sleep 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:47.360 on the kitchen floor. Right The litmus test for me 0:14:47.600 --> 0:14:50.360 was will I regret it if I don't pursue this idea. 0:14:51.000 --> 0:14:54.200 Creative people have ideas all the time, and I don't 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:56.800 recommend pursuing them all. You have to pursue the right 0:14:56.840 --> 0:15:01.720 one at the right time. But for us, us, we 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:04.320 were really passionate about the idea I love to bake. 0:15:04.440 --> 0:15:07.760 My passion fueled me. It was contagious it, you know, 0:15:07.840 --> 0:15:10.600 all of a sudden, I had suppliers who are rooting 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:13.040 for me, employees who wanted to work with me, and 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:15.280 customers who wanted to spread the word. There was just 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:19.400 something about what we were doing that was so authentic 0:15:19.520 --> 0:15:24.040 and genuine that it's spread like wildfire. And also it's different. 0:15:24.080 --> 0:15:26.040 We were flying in the face of what people knew, 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:29.600 and and so that got people talking as well. And 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:32.680 I was gonna say, it sounds like it's I can't 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:35.960 not do this. You know, they're sometimes some things in 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:38.840 life where you go, I can't not marry this person, 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:41.200 I can't not pursue this goal. I can't and that 0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:44.960 sounds like one of those things. So let's talk about 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:50.640 how one works with one spouse, because it is a 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:54.440 fascinating idea to me. And I have been married for 0:15:54.480 --> 0:15:57.680 over twenty years. Um, but we've started working together in 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:01.160 a few things and it's actually fantastic. Dick, I think 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:04.800 it's fantastic. But um and I think it works well 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:08.760 now that we're almost empty nesters too. It's kind of 0:16:08.800 --> 0:16:12.120 our next chapter. But you guys started out as partners, 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:15.160 So can you can you tell me a little of 0:16:15.200 --> 0:16:17.320 the good, the bad, and the ugly about you know, 0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:20.040 for for the people listening who think, oh, maybe me 0:16:20.680 --> 0:16:24.600 and my partner will start a dot dot dot, most 0:16:24.640 --> 0:16:28.360 of my friends were like, no way, hell no, um no. 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:31.080 For for Charles and myself. You know, what's interesting is 0:16:31.120 --> 0:16:34.200 that we actually met in investment banking. We weren't dating 0:16:34.200 --> 0:16:36.320 at the time, but we kind of were able to 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:38.640 see each other in a work environment already in a 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:42.440 very highly stressful work environment with lots and lots of hours, 0:16:43.040 --> 0:16:45.920 and even at the time, you know, back in the day, 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:48.520 we were able to get by with like a great 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:50.800 work ethic, positive attitude, and at the end of the 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:53.040 day when you're miserable, just a sense of humor. And 0:16:53.280 --> 0:16:55.880 I know that that's what you have in spades. Ali, 0:16:56.080 --> 0:16:59.640 That's all I have, Candice. It's just one of many 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:02.960 a me and qualities. But it's so important. It's so 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:05.000 important because it's really all about, at the end of 0:17:05.040 --> 0:17:08.240 the day, conflict resolution. Like you know, Charles and I 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:10.600 each have our lanes, which is super helpful. And we 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:12.640 both love what we do. So when people say don't 0:17:12.640 --> 0:17:15.200 bring home your work, like, we break that rule all 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:17.280 the time because we love what we're doing. We talk 0:17:17.359 --> 0:17:19.520 about it at the dinner table. We include our kids 0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:22.040 in the conversation, which is super fun now and you 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:25.160 don't feel like all that time spent is too much time, 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:26.960 you know what I mean? Like, there's no mystery when 0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:32.800 you're with Yeah, there is no mystery. You are completely 0:17:32.880 --> 0:17:35.000 right about that. But I think at the end of 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:37.320 the day, we just really enjoy each other's company. We're 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:41.600 friends and we have fun together and um, ultimately we're 0:17:41.680 --> 0:17:45.320 very We're aligned holistically on our life right. Family is important, 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:48.480 our businesses are important, and we each have each other's back. 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:51.119 So if someone has an important meeting or there's a 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:53.880 restaurant opening and you're you know, our kid is sick. 0:17:54.040 --> 0:17:57.040 Somebody's got to be on to take our son to 0:17:57.119 --> 0:17:59.720 the doctor. Who's it going to be um, And we're 0:17:59.760 --> 0:18:03.280 eat there for each other during those moments, Like the 0:18:03.359 --> 0:18:06.000 highs are high in entrepreneurship and the lows are really low. 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:08.640 So having that person by your side to like support 0:18:08.680 --> 0:18:12.239 you and also celebrate your winds in your house, you know, 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:15.240 it's pretty pretty awesome. Yeah. I was gonna say that 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:20.800 starting a business I think with a partner is probably 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:23.520 very exciting, you know, the newness of it all. And 0:18:23.600 --> 0:18:26.400 now you guys are an empire, so it's not like 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:29.160 you're you know, you're not sharing a desk all day, 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:32.280 like you said, you know, people are in meetings and 0:18:32.320 --> 0:18:35.479 doing this, so it's almost like you've got two different jobs. 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:38.080 I would imagine. Absolutely. Now I have to, like, we 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:41.879 have to schedule time together. Okay, yes, okay, I got it. 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:44.199 We're not tripping over each other anymore. We were in 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:46.600 the early days, for sure, But but the early days 0:18:46.640 --> 0:18:49.959 there is something very exciting about that too. Starting something 0:18:50.000 --> 0:18:52.679 new so exciting, And I have to say, you know, 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:55.600 I'm almost embarrassed to say it now, but at the 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:58.480 time I'm not sure I had the confidence um to 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:01.080 start a business on my own. Understand that I didn't. 0:19:01.119 --> 0:19:03.399 I didn't come from that world. I didn't know what 0:19:03.480 --> 0:19:05.760 I was doing. I mean, not that Charles knew what 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:09.080 he was doing. His only restaurant experience was basically eating 0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:12.119 in one right, But just to have his support and 0:19:12.240 --> 0:19:15.320 know that, like I had someone who was right there 0:19:15.359 --> 0:19:18.360 by my side who believed in me, was really important. 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:24.240 There's a lot more to come after the short break 0:19:31.400 --> 0:19:38.640 and we're back. So Sprinkles just became this unbelievable phenomenon. 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:43.679 And so then comes the genius idea of the A 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:49.960 T M. Cupcake. Now, first of all, explain that concept, 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:54.240 because you know you were making fresh cupcakes every day, 0:19:54.280 --> 0:19:57.879 So explain the concept of an A T M cupcake machine, 0:19:58.000 --> 0:20:03.479 of which I have frequented many times. So okay, So 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:06.960 when we first opened our doors, our idea quickly went 0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:09.800 from that's the stupid craziest idea I've ever heard of, 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:12.439 to all of a sudden, it was phenomenon. We were 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:14.920 known for lines out the door, and there were cupcake 0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:19.320 bakeries popping up everywhere across the air cut. By the way, 0:20:19.359 --> 0:20:22.200 in France, there was a cupcake bakery in Paris, which 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:25.000 I was like, the French don't need cupcakes, they have 0:20:25.119 --> 0:20:29.919 all that other great stuff exactly. And so you know, 0:20:30.359 --> 0:20:32.000 all of a sudden we were looking around and we 0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:34.879 thought we gotta move the needle again. I mean, we 0:20:34.960 --> 0:20:38.000 got to differentiate ourselves somehow. Um, all of a sudden, 0:20:38.000 --> 0:20:40.520 we're one in a crowded pack, like, what is Sprinkles 0:20:40.520 --> 0:20:42.840 going to do next? Because we really thought of ourselves 0:20:43.160 --> 0:20:45.280 as innovators at the end of the day, you know, 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:50.399 we were bringing this sort of um innovators perspective to 0:20:50.800 --> 0:20:52.600 the bakery industry. There were so many things that we 0:20:52.640 --> 0:20:56.080 sort of disrupted about it, and um, so we thought, Okay, 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:59.280 we gotta disrupt again. We gotta be innovators again. And 0:20:59.600 --> 0:21:04.120 our real guiding mission and why we Sprinkles was really 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:07.359 just to bring joy and delight in connection to people. 0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:10.800 And so I think we were always trying to entertain 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:13.439 these ideas of what's going to delight people, what's going 0:21:13.480 --> 0:21:17.280 to sort of, you know, tickle their imagination. I came 0:21:17.359 --> 0:21:20.199 home from a party one night late. I was pregnant 0:21:20.240 --> 0:21:23.280 with my second son. I had literally eaten dark chocolate 0:21:23.280 --> 0:21:26.240 cupcakes through both of my pregnancies. It was gross. It 0:21:26.320 --> 0:21:29.639 was so there were so many cupcakes involved, and I 0:21:29.720 --> 0:21:31.600 had a craving for a cupcake. There were none in 0:21:31.640 --> 0:21:35.120 the house. I started to get a little whiny about it. 0:21:35.880 --> 0:21:38.639 And because Charles and I like to embrace what I 0:21:38.720 --> 0:21:42.000 call the crazy ideas, we started batting around the idea 0:21:42.000 --> 0:21:43.600 of like, what if there was a way to get 0:21:43.600 --> 0:21:46.640 a cupcake anytime day or night. And then we were like, actually, 0:21:46.680 --> 0:21:48.560 we pay rent twenty four hours a day, like there 0:21:48.560 --> 0:21:51.040 really should be a way to do that and monetize. 0:21:51.160 --> 0:21:53.639