Market Magic! Why I Love Doing Pop-Up Markets
butter + sugar at the SMNC Sunday Farm Market Pop-up
I’m not going to lie… I don’t love everything about doing pop-up markets. Filling my car with a folding table, a 10’ tent, coolers full of gluten-free baked goods, bags of carefully wrapped cake stands and trays all at the crack of dawn is not my idea of a good time. BUT, everything that comes after is, well, magic.
There is nothing more satisfying than meeting butter + sugar customers in person. Watching a customer who is used to passing by bakery vendors’ tables do a double-take when they notice my “Everything is gluten-free!” sign is pure joy, followed by an even purer joy as I watch them react to one delicious sample after another.
ME: “You like chocolate? You have to try my Salted Brownie— it’s chocolate on chocolate on chocolate. There is a pound and a half of chocolate in each batch!” What’s a Snickerdoodle Bar? It’s kind of like a combination of a snickerdoodle cookie and a gooey butter cake. Try it.”
FIRST TIME CUSTOMER: “Wow, that’s gluten-free?!?”
This is all especially fun for me when it’s a parent and child sampling my treats. Often it’s the first time a kid with Celiac has been able to even taste a sample from a market vendor. The risk of cross-contamination is so severe with Celiac Disease that even if a traditional bakery vendor offers gluten-free samples alongside their gluten-full samples, most Celiacs know that the GF options are not safe for them. As a parent of a child with Celiac, I know I would never let my kid sample from a table with both traditional and GF options… which is why it is SO important to me to keep my kitchen and pop-up market table dedicated gluten-free. The joy of being able to sample and then fill a box with cookies, cupcakes, donuts, and more is something that all kids should get to experience. And, I am so happy to be able to bring this experience to shoppers at my pop-up markets.
Although my favorite moments of pop-up markets are watching people’s faces light up after tasting butter + sugar baked goods— (I’ll never forget the customer this past summer who on a whim tried one of my Corn Cookies and as he walked away he shouted back, “Oh my gosh! It’s everything I wanted it to be!!!”)— I also just really love talking with customers. It’s such a great opportunity to share tips about being gluten-free, getting an accurate Celiac diagnosis, navigating travel, shopping, school, and more. I have learned about great GF vacation destinations from customers and I hope I’ve been able to point my customers towards especially good gluten-free products (like DePuma’s Fresh GF Pasta at Fratelli Market in Stamford) and to GF-friendly local restaurants (like Teff and bareburger in Stamford).
Pop-Up Markets also give me an opportunity to get a little creative in the kitchen. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll always bring the butter + sugar classics to my pop-up markets (Toasted Granola, Salted Brownies, and Mixed Berry Breakfast Cake are market staples!), but I love trying out new products at my butter + sugar table. As a baker, it keeps me sharp to try new recipes. Some recipes come to me already gluten-free and I love to tweak them to make them my own— my O.G. Mega Cookies are that. Some recipes I have to play around with to de-gluten them and these are the ones that challenge me the most, but also are the most rewarding when they work out. My Ube Crinkle Cookies and Oatmeal Creme Pie Cookies are both examples of recipes that I deglutened and LOVE. Holiday markets also give me a chance to “play” in the kitchen— from Mummy Cupcakes at Halloween to Peppermint Whoopie Pies at Christmas, pop-up markets give me the chance to have fun as a baker.
Finally, I really believe that it means a lot to put a face to a name. I think it’s important for customers to meet me, to hear why I bake gluten-free, and to learn more about my journey as a parent of a kid with Celiac. But, the flipside is also so important. It's very rewarding to me to be able to put a face to a name when it comes to my customers. Because butter + sugar does a lot of By Mail and Mix ‘n Match Pick-Up Orders, I often don’t get to meet my customers or even hear what they think about my baked goods. butter + sugar is a business and I get that that’s the transactional nature of most purchases, but I bake with a lot of love and care. When I get a cupcake order for Celiac child’s birthday party, I want those GF cupcakes to blow every birthday guest’s mind from the birthday girl’s to her friends’ to her friends’ parents’. I want everyone to say the biggest compliment in the world “What? These are gluten-free?!?!!” So, it means everything to me when that birthday girl and her parent visit me at a pop-up market and the parent says “This is the lady who made your Rainbow Surprise Cupcakes” and the girl beams with happiness. And, then I beam, too. Aw shucks, seriously, it’s like that though. That human connection is EVERYTHING.
Pop-up markets may not be where butter + sugar makes it big and they may not even always make financial-sense, but they are crucial to my success as a small business entrepreneur and gluten-free baker. The connections that I make with my customers fuel my desire to create more delicious baked goods that taste great without the gluten.
Please check out my market calendar to see where butter + sugar is popping up next and please stop by to say HELLO!