.png)
The Back Office
The Back Office is where the real conversations about business live. The wins no one posts about. The pivots that weren’t planned. The uncomfortable numbers. The hard lessons. The “are we doing this right?” moments.
Each episode is filmed inside a local business and features candid conversations between entrepreneurs, operators, and marketing minds who aren’t here to perform — they’re here to tell the truth.
This isn’t the polished highlight reel. It’s the strategy, stress, systems, mistakes, and momentum happening behind the scenes.
If you’re building something — and want honest insight from people who are actually in it — welcome to The Back Office. Pull up a chair.
The Back Office
Building Something That Feels Like Home
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
What does it really take to turn something you love into something that lasts?
In this episode of The Back Office, I sit down with Alexandra Coppinger, co-owner of Common Tart—a Tulsa-based pie shop she built alongside her mom. What started as a shared love for baking turned into a leap of faith in 2020… and has grown into a brand known not just for its pies, but for the feeling it creates.
We talk about the realities behind the scenes—what changes when your passion becomes your business, how to stay true to your brand, and what it actually looks like to build something meaningful with family.
This conversation is honest, thoughtful, and full of lessons for anyone who’s ever felt the pull to create something of their own.
Show Notes
Alexandra Coppinger
Co-Owner, Common Tart (Tulsa, OK)
Mother-daughter pie shop focused on creating warmth, comfort, and connection through baking.
In This Episode, We Cover:
- The story behind Common Tart and launching in 2020
- Turning a passion into a sustainable business
- How to protect the joy of what you love
- Building a brand that feels like something
- The realities of working with family
- Lessons learned through risk, growth, and uncertainty
- Defining success beyond just expansion
- What it looks like to keep building—even without all the answers
Connect with Common Tart:
📍1717 E. 17th St., Tulsa, OK, United States, 74104
https://www.commontart.com/
https://www.facebook.com/commontart
https://www.instagram.com/commontart
About The Back Office
Hosted by Dalayna Dillon
Founder & Creative Director of Signify Marketing
The Back Office invites listeners into honest conversations about marketing, growth, leadership, and the real decisions shaping active businesses.
Facebook/Instagram: @signifymarketingsocial
www.signifymarketing.social
Welcome to the back office. I'm Delena Dillon, the founder and creative director of Signify Marketing, and this is where you sit in on real strategy. And this month is a special one for us here at Signify because we're celebrating five years in business. And so I'm so excited to bring you conversations with business owners who are learning, building, and figuring it out just like I have been for the last five years. So I'm sitting down today with Alexandra, who is the co-owner of Common Tart, a pie shop in Tulsa that she runs with her mom. But this isn't just a story about baking. It's about taking a leap of faith, building a brand that feels like home, and navigating what it looks like to build a business with family. So, Alexandra, I'm so excited to be here with you today. Thank you for having me. In the cutest shop in Tulsa. Thank you. Just putting that out there. So um, just take me back. Let's kind of take me back to when when Common Tart kind of became a thing or an idea. Take me all the way back there.
SPEAKER_03It's been an idea, I will not say common tart has been an idea, but a bakery in my mind and my mom's mind has been something that we've talked about for a very long time. It was always like if we went to a place where like, well, when we have ours, this is what we're doing. When we have our shop, this is what we're doing. And we never knew what that was gonna be, but it was like this pipe dream that we always had. And then I knew I wanted to truly be in the food industry, and so we started a catering business when I was a senior in high school, and it was we did like little, you know, uh like business lunches, we did uh ladies' banquets, and then we started doing all of the anniversary and retirement cakes for American Airlines. Oh wow, and so that took off much quicker than we thought, and we were just doing it out of our house. Yeah. And then we would like, if we got a bigger order, we would go to our church's kitchen, and it was just this big thing that took off, but we still were like, when we have our actual shop, this is what we're gonna be doing, this is and the pies were not even really in like the grand scope of everything. We did some, but it was not like the big thing we were gonna do. And then when that kind of it got a little too big for us, we we phased out of that, and then I started working in just bakeries around Tulsa and knew I I mean every time I would go be like, okay, whenever I have my shop, I like this little thing that they do. I I, you know, I like the way they run their business, I like the way they do their ordering, and I would just kind of collect all these ideas thinking that way, way in the future was I gonna have a shop. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So are you allowed to say that bake bakeries you were working in?
SPEAKER_03I mean, I think so. I still have like good connections with all of them.
SPEAKER_01I worked at Queenies and you can see. I just didn't know if you wanted to like share, you know, like, oh, I'm gonna talk about their behind the scenes, but Queenie's is huge in Delta.
SPEAKER_03Yes, I love Queenie's. I'm still such good friends with people over there that work over there, that run it. And I worked there for probably the longest. And I was front of house, back of house. That is a machine over there, and I I've got Queenies, yeah. So yeah, no, I've I've just learned a lot um over the years, and my mom and I have just been so like into food and and try every time we would travel, we would try a little bakery and you know, just kind of gather ideas. So it was always just this like weird little pipe dream that we had. And in 2020, actually, a friend of mine who is the general manager at Queenie's, she was walking through this neighborhood and took a picture of this little shop, and she was like, Hey, if you're ever thinking about a place, this place is for lease. And I was like, Yeah, sure, whatever. Yeah, what was this place before? It's been so many things. Okay. Um, like way back in I think the 70s, it was Brody's Cakes. Okay. It's been a pizza place, it was a nail salon, it was a hair salon. Oh wow. It was the original Eda Blend, which is now in Utica Square. Oh, I didn't know that. Yes, yeah, yeah. So it has been so many different little things. And so I called on it and met the guy. Um, and actually somebody beat us out on getting the uh getting the lease. And it was supposed to be like a Chinese restaurant or something. And then he called me back a month later and he was like, that fell through. If you guys are really interested, you know, then come and do this. And I was like, wow, this is truly meant to be. And so we we signed the lease in August and we opened the Monday before Thanksgiving. It's perfect.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yeah. It's so funny. I feel like we need to have a name or something for business owners who started their business in 2020 because they're like a they've gotta be a different type of person to just take that on.
SPEAKER_03I don't know what it was. I feel like there was a lot of places that closed down. Yeah, but then because those places closed, I think everyone got so sad and they were like, How do we support local businesses? So openings happened, and there, I mean, I have several friends that opened businesses in 2020, yeah, and we're all still doing really well. And so I'm so thankful that the community, it was kind of like it hit us at a weird time that they were fully ready to support us. Yeah, and I really did just think it was gonna be friends and family that came and visited us, but on our opening day, we had we sold out completely, and it was a bunch of people I did not know, and I was like, Well, hello, strangers, thank you for coming.
SPEAKER_01It was something to be excited for too. I mean, I just I think that in I don't know, in another who knows how many years, five years, something, we will have a different perspective because it takes things shifted in 2020 and even after that. Yeah, and so I think maybe even people approaching business that launched in 2020, they came with a different approach that there was a creativity that had to happen.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, because you had to there was a whole you know year, year and a half of like pivoting for these established business already. Yeah. That I feel like those of us that kind of went into it, you kind of went into it with a pivot mindset anyway. Yeah. So it was like a lot of things hit you, and we were willing to roll with all of the mask mandates and all of the random rules because we we got hit with a lot of rules in the beginning. Yeah. And I feel like that was almost better because then it's kind of relaxed over time instead of gotten worse. Yeah. So gotten easier.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, so also in in case people don't know this area or they're not from Tulsa, this spot, it's like the perfect neighborhood spot. Yeah. Like it's in the midst, would you say it's like in the midst of a neighborhood, but all of Utica in Midtown, it's kind of that way, anyways. But it's a lot of people.
SPEAKER_03We feel tucked away at the same time. We have Utica literally right there. We can see, but we're not on a street, which I will say in the beginning when we were opening this, my dad was my dad is owns his own business, but he was worried and he was like, I feel like you need foot traffic, you need to be right out in front, which I do agree, that does help. But I've loved being slightly off of the main road. It gives it a different appeal. It does, and I feel like we feel like a neighborhood spot, but yet I'm right next to Utica Square, we're right next to Cherry Street. So all the restaurants, all the places that you go to for dinner or lunch, you come here right afterwards. Just walk over. Yes, yeah. And people do, I mean, they're not going to be able to do it. Yes, yeah, a very walkable neighborhood. We got Swan Lake right there. Yeah. So everyone who's walking through Swan Lake still comes by. This is a really, really good part of it's my favorite part of Tulsa is Midtown.
SPEAKER_01Well, if you aren't from Tulsa, you don't know what you're missing out on. Exactly. So, um, what were some of the biggest unknowns at the beginning of launching?
SPEAKER_03Oh, biggest unknowns, how much work it was really gonna be. Um, because I had worked in other bakeries, I think I thought um this will be no big deal. Um not no big deal, but I I I knew it was gonna be a lot of work, but not as much as it really was. Um what was hard is because it was just me and my mom in the beginning, I didn't realize that we couldn't actually bake a lot during the day because we were actually running the shop. So I would get here early in the morning and bake as much as I possibly could. We would open and still just try to function as you know, a normal shop just with running it, you know, with two people. But then since no baking got done, I would sell out by the end of the day. So I'd have to stay here all through the night and rebake just to be able to open the next day. That was very hard in the beginning to kind of figure out how much do we make every day? How much can I possibly do? And it was, you know, we would love to have a really busy Saturday, but we at the very end when we would open the fridge and freezer and it would all be gone. It was like, I mean, I'm so happy, but I'm so sad because we can't enjoy a weekend at all. I have to come back up here and work. And so as we grew, we obviously became way more efficient and we knew exactly what we had to do. So it's funny to look back and think how hard we were working and how little we were making back then compared to the amount of food we make now. Yeah. We obviously have a bigger team, right? But it's just yeah, we that that was a stru that was a big struggle.
SPEAKER_01So how long was that learning curve until you were like probably a year and a half.
SPEAKER_03Really? Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So were you always open uh what is it, five days a week?
SPEAKER_03We were open Wednesday through Saturday in the beginning. And is that what it is? Yes. Um it was Wednesday through Saturday, and in the beginning we opened at 10 a.m. and stayed open until like six or seven, and then I realized pretty quickly nobody was eating pie between 10 and noon. And so why waste our time? So we we you know changed our hours then. We did a lot of maneuvering in the beginning, and my mom and I very much even though the business did run us, our big thing that we kept saying to each other was we don't need to let this run us. Like, how can we still maintain a lot of control? And so a lot of people would be like, You should serve coffee in the mornings, you should have muffins, you should have to do it. Everyone's got an opinion. We do, everyone. Everybody has an opinion, and and it was my mom and I are really great at if we don't love it, we're not gonna do it, we will not be swayed by that. And we I feel like we maintained a sense of control in this tiny thing that we had, and so we grew it in a way that made sense for us.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. It's I think that's so tempting to do because people, customers, you know, loyal customers who love you and love your product, they have an opinion. And so sometimes you want to be like, okay, I'll try to listen to those opinions, but you're right, it can either overextend you, pull you in a direction you really didn't want to go. Yeah. So, but you have evolved over time too because now you have like a lunch menu and different things. Now, how did that come about because like you always wanted to expand in that way, or was it seeing the demand for middle of the day?
SPEAKER_03Well, we knew that we had um like anytime we would ever make like our chicken pot pies, or we would make kind of our savory pies, those were were really popular. And so we just needed to figure out a way to make it where we could do it every day. And in the be and I I actually will still say lunch is still kind of uh a frustrating thing for us to figure out because some weeks we are I mean, it is like a line the moment we open and people are ready to get the lunch and they're selling us out of it, and then we're like, oh my goodness, everybody really loves the chicken pot pie. Let's do it again next week. Next week it will be dead. We will have no one coming in to get the chicken pot pie. And I'm like, where are you all? You all were like dying for it last week. Yeah, and so it still is a hit or a miss on the savory things, so we that's a a learning curve. We're constantly trying to figure that out. I do we're kind of in a new phase of trying to at least have a veggie special and a meat special um that seems to be working right now, but I feel like it's just important to we do listen. I I don't want to make it sound like we did not listen to customers, but we did it in a way that made sense. Yeah. And if I if someone suggested something or if it was something we felt like we needed to do, we really did think about all of the processes because yes, could we turn into a full sandwich and soup and all that? Yes, you can, but we didn't want to, yeah, and I didn't have a passion for it. So if I didn't have a passion for it, why would I keep doing it? Whereas I love making the chicken pot pie. I love being able to serve you a delicious veggie quiche.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So if those things matter, I'm gonna make that better for you.
SPEAKER_01Well, and I feel sorry, go ahead. Okay, I feel like too, it would be less unique if it started bleeding into all of these other things. Yeah, you know, because actually I heard that you were your specialty was actually cakes.
SPEAKER_03It originally was, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like decorating and small.
SPEAKER_03Well that's what I thought I was gonna go into when I was well, I mean, kind of leading out of our catering business. I was like, oh, I want to be wedding cakes, yeah, I want to do birthday cakes, I want to do that whole thing. And so I tried to find bakeries in town to work in that were cake-centered because I love them. I still love doing them, but they are so personal. You very much want your birthday cake to be a work of art. Yeah. And you want your wedding cake, I mean, especially your wedding cake, to be this pillar and this work of art in your wedding. And I feel like sometimes flavor is compromised because you're you're going based solely off of a look. And I was more interested in giving you a delicious product. Yeah. And I just kind of I loved making something that wasn't so rigid. And I feel like pie is there's nothing rigid about pie at all. And so it just kind of morphed over time. And actually, I had a friend of mine, um, uh we met up together before we like officially uh opened Comment Tart. I was talking with him and his wife, and I was like, you know, I'm really passionate about cakes and I'm really passionate about pies, but I don't know how to merge the two. I don't know how to make this a cake and a pie shop without it one of them taking over. And so he was like, Well, which one do you just feel is needed? And I was like, I feel like pie is needed. You can go other places and get cake. You cannot go every single place and get pie. Right. And I knew that I can make pie really, really well. And so it's funny because people will be like, Well, do you make cake? And so my thing is, I'll make a cake. If I love you, I'll make you a cake. And people are like, Oh, okay. And I'm like, Well, I love my friends and family, and for their birthdays, their weddings, whatever, I am totally down to make that cake, but it is just something that I kind of keep maybe maybe one day in the future, yes, you know, a cakes will come about, but but pie is kind of what took over.
SPEAKER_01So a lot of people love something, but they don't turn it into a business. Yeah, what made you take that step? Because owning a business is like having another child, it's all the time, like you were describing in the big especially in the beginning, all the time, never stops. So, but what made it different than you know, all the other people out there who love doing fill-in-the-blank? Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, I do think some people turn things into a job that they shouldn't. So I will say, just because that's a hobby does not mean you should have to try to make money from it. Um I feel like we're just enjoying it. Yes, just enjoy it. But I I mean, I was really determined when I was in high school that I very much wanted to go. I was a musician and I was into food. I had like a a silly little food blog for the longest time. And I read cookbooks, and I mean, like it has truly been a passion of, I mean, like Martha Stewart. Yeah, I was a big Martha Stewart girl, Iina Garden, all those things. So I knew that I was going to be in this industry in some capacity. So I just think I was uh really, really determined to make it something. Um, and then what's funny is I I I was I studied classical music for a long time and I went into the opera world. And there were two summers that I uh went to New York to to do programs there, and to get me there and to get money to go to stay in New York, I would bake and I would do baked goods. Well, the last year that I was in New York, because it's it's not an easy thing to do to be in classical music, right? And this one guy got up and said, if you can do anything else, you should go do that because this is a hard career. And while I was there, I was like, This is really lonely. I'm not with my family, you know, all my family lives in Oklahoma, but yet I had this dream of going to New York, and I was like, Oh, but I really love to bake. Like that, and I literally baked the whole way to get to New York. And so it was kind of that final decision of like, this is really what I want to do. And I mean, it was like I just kind of knew I was going to do it somehow, but was gonna kind of blur the two. And so when I came back from New York that time, I was like, nope, this is it's full gung-ho. And I I think I was just so determined. So I feel like it does depend on your determination that like I wanted to make money from this. Yeah, this career is so fascinating to me. It was what I loved to go do in my free time. It's what I loved to go, you know, with my friends. Let's go try a new bakery, let's go try a new restaurant. So it was kind of like uh, well, duh, of course I was gonna do it.
SPEAKER_01So this is so random, but I've always I have for a long time have been that person who wants to be able to go try something like you know, dinner or dessert or whatever it is, and like be able to have all the right ways to describe that. I feel like that alone is a gift to be like, oh yes, this needs a little more of this. Because some people are like, oh, it needs a little more of this or that. I'm like, how in the world would you know that? Like, I would to me, I take it, I taste it and that's what it's like.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, good or bad. Yes. I will say it's funny you say that. I just saw a video and this girl was talking about how she's has been in the culinary world for years, and she was like, I wish I could go into a bakery and not pick it apart, like pick each and everything apart. So you're so your ignorance is bliss in that scenario.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I know if it's not good, yes, but I wouldn't be able to tell you why it's not good.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, it needs a little more salt. I don't know. A little more tang. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01But I think that is such a gift because I don't have those descriptors. I try to develop it. Yeah. Is there a way to develop that?
SPEAKER_03I think so. I think it's too well, and and it's also incredibly subject. So you know, you know, what what you like. So if you, you know, if you're gonna go and you're gonna try a cookie, well, I love a little bit of sea salt on top of my chocolate chip cookie. Yeah, but you may be like, oh my goodness, that's so gross. So you just start to develop that over time, and so you realize, oh, I don't like that cookie because there's no salt on it or there is too much. So I do think it is just I just was geeked out over it. And my my mom is the same way. My um, my aunt Andrea, she's the same way. So we're constantly trying little things. My sister's that way. I mean, we are we we feel like we're little food critics.
SPEAKER_00Well, but like, do you pick things apart?
SPEAKER_03Oh my goodness, yes. I am the most judgmental human ever.
SPEAKER_00Don't make anything for don't make anything for your family.
SPEAKER_03I do. I do the thing is though, I mean, I I will honestly be like, oh, that was lovely, you know, thank you for making it. But oh I I I am so judgmental, yes. Oh man.
SPEAKER_01So what changes when something you love becomes your job? Did anything change about your passion and your love when it became your job?
SPEAKER_03No, no. I will say my mom for a while, she would, if I had like a really exhausted or you know, if we were really, really exhausted, she would be like, Are you done? Are you so done doing this? And I I've never been done. I've never had a burnout moment. Yeah. Um, I just got back from New York and I love to be able to go there and still kind of renew my love for other baked goods and other restaurants. So I mean, I hope that part of it never goes away. I hope that the the job never gets too overwhelming. So far it hasn't. So I'm grateful for that.
SPEAKER_01So part two of that question is how do you keep that joy of what you love alive? Is it going and trying other places and taking the step away?
SPEAKER_03I think so. And I also think it goes back to what my mom and I were kind of initi initially thought. We never wanted the business to run us. And I'm very okay with saying no. Yeah. Um, I, you know, what we have almost every single month in the year is a holiday. There's a holiday somewhere, and I can really push to make sure that, you know, our Easter is really big and our Mother's Day is really big, and I know this. Um, but I also know that I could take hundreds of orders if I wanted to, and if we could. But I know physically what we can store, what we can actually physically make. And so I cut off orders. Yeah. And I'm totally fine to say no that we're done. But I'm not saying no to making more. Right. I'm just gonna make it in a way that makes sense for us. So we cut off orders in a way that we can manage, and then we bake like crazy, and then we sell those on a first come, first serve basis. Now, I I feel like sometimes our customers in the beginning, when we did that, thought that, you know, oh, but can I get my order in? Can I get my order in? And it's like, well, your one order, you know, you think it's just one, but we had 30 calls to get just one more in. Yeah. And your one more is adding so much work on top of us. So I make sure that it's work we can manage. Yeah. And so I do think people need to say no more in their businesses. Just because you can doesn't mean that you should.
SPEAKER_01Man, I'd be I would be really bad at that. Because one person be like, oh, okay, just one more. Yeah. And then the next one and the next one. I would be really bad about that. But it's it is important to protect your your energy, to protect your sustainability, all of those things.
SPEAKER_03Well, and I feel like it's good to protect your staff. Yes. I've definitely worked in certain environments where the staff is not protected in a way that, you know, you just say yes to everything, yeah. Which is great because you're making more and more money. But if I am completely and totally exhausting my staff, which this is an exhausting job. There are certain holidays. Yeah, this is very exhausting, and I'm so grateful for the staff that I have. But I also think they do know I'm gonna like I want to protect their sanity in some way. I still want you to be able to go home at the end of the day. Yeah, I don't want us to be here until super late. I, for the longest time, have have stayed, you know, here and really tried to, you know, get ahead of things, and so I will stay super late. And I was doing that for a long time and I finally stopped doing that. And I may do it one or two nights a week, but I really enjoy being up here. So it's not that, you know, as much of a chore. But I do think you have to guard your time and also protect your staff's time. In a way that you know the your customers will still come, but you might have to train your customers onto how you're gonna do business. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And be consistent. I think that consistency does get it because I have heard customers are great. Like they're great, as in they can be their big your biggest treat cheerleaders, but also they can go on Facebook and Google and dog you. Yeah, so I've heard the biggest complaint with you know bakeries or things like a brick and mortar that maybe isn't open seven days a week, 24 hours a day, all this kind of stuff. Their biggest complaint is the inconsistent hours because a lot of bakeries when they sell out they close. And so someone who maybe did make a trip out to go support local, they can't do it because they're not open. And I think that being consistent, like you said, whatever you set into place, just being consistent with that, it kind of helps eliminate those expectations that are just wrong expectations. You know, you're being consistent and true to you. But I do think it's interesting you brought up protecting your staff because the last conversation I had the last episode, uh, we talked specifically about how to attract and retain good talent. And so obviously in any food industry, there's that reputation of having a high turnover. Oh, yeah. And so I think it's so good that you were bringing up how you are keeping your staff in mind with the workload because you knew you want to keep them.
SPEAKER_03I do, yes. Yeah. I mean, and and we're we're very close friends here, we're a very close group of people. Um, I try to really hire with I try to hire slow. I, you know, I think it's like a Dave Ramsey thing. I think he says hire slow, fire fast, or whatever. Yeah. Um I've never fired anybody, so you know, fingers crossed, I never have to do that. Um, but um I just I I want to make sure that we enjoy each other. I just saw a video recently and it said that when you're hiring someone, can you envision going on a trip with them? Can you envision spending time with them, those kinds of things? So I feel like we enjoy spending time with each other. Yeah. Um, and it's a very small space back there. So if we're not getting along, that bleeds out because it is so small, even up here, it bleeds out. Yeah. And so I want to make sure that I'm treating them with respect. And and I I very much understand a work-life balance in the way that if you need to take a trip, you need you need a vacation, if you need to go spend time with family, I want to be very understanding of that. But then while we're here, we're working our high knees off. Yeah. So like work really, really hard because I'm totally fine to give you time to. I mean, I very much love a trip. I very much love a vacation, and I think people should be allowed those things. And so I think if you run your business in such a way where you can build respect with your employees, I do think they will respect you back.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, but it's just it is that balance.
SPEAKER_01So what kind what age demographic are your employees? Just because to give people reference on like what type of employee you're talking about.
SPEAKER_03Well, we kind of have hired all over. I mean, my grandmother used to work up here with us, and so she yeah, she she would still come in. And I think she was our oldest employee that we had. I love that. But and my little sister, she's nine years old, she legitimately works up here on Friday nights and Saturdays with us. She, I mean, if people are our regulars, they see her cleaning the table, and she is it it's a serious thing. So it is a pretty wide range. I have some people in their 20s, 30s, 40s. Um, I I'm I'm not a you know, I I don't discriminate those days.
SPEAKER_01Well, I think that makes it that diversity, a different kind of diversity, makes it probably balanced. Yes. Because a lot of again, this is a stereotype. A lot of food industry, they usually have a younger workforce that are more focused on having a balance in life and having flexibility. And so I think maybe that balance even helps.
SPEAKER_04Yes. Yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yes, which is good. You take it. Yes.
SPEAKER_04But can we get those pies made first? And then you take that MTV.
SPEAKER_01Yes, exactly. So you were talking about you like taking trips too. Just as a side note, where are some places if we're going to New York based on your recent trip, we should go?
SPEAKER_03Oh my goodness. I tried really, really good places this time. Um, I actually met the owner of this little shop. It's called From Lucy. Okay.
SPEAKER_01It's just in New York City. Like it's in the city.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, in Manhattan. Um, so she is on um in the lower east side. Okay. And it's a little cake shop. She just wrote a cookbook. So I'm I actually went down there for um like a women in food event. So it's called Cherry Bomb. It's it's it's a Cherry Bomb magazine, and it's all about women in food. And then they do their annual Jubilee in New York City. And so they bring in female chefs and you get them meet a whole bunch of business owners and kind of celebrity chefs and cookbook authors and that kind of thing. And so she was there, and so I ended up going to trying her her uh her shop. Beautiful cakes, absolutely beautiful. But then she has a chocolate chip cookie that I feel like is one of the best I've ever had. Um there's always Le Ven, which I feel like is such a staple for New York City. Love their cookies.
SPEAKER_01Is that a bakery?
SPEAKER_03It is a bakery, yeah. Yeah, it's a it's a French, um, it's a French name, but it's like a little cookie shop.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_03Um, what's funny is I actually don't like any pie in New York City. Really? Yes.
SPEAKER_01Are there any exclusively pie places?
SPEAKER_03There are. There's two up there. Okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, um, they just need to come try the real.
SPEAKER_03Yes, or Commentart needs to go to New York. Exactly. That that is a there's a that's my my dream, my my ultimate dream to take one up there.
SPEAKER_01As long as it doesn't leave here. That's it.
SPEAKER_03Oh no, no, it will stay here. Yes, yeah. It'll just be, you know, I just need to have my own little private jet and then just take my just go back and forth.
SPEAKER_01No big deal. Of course. So for those who also have a passion, when do they know that it's ready to become a business?
SPEAKER_03Ooh, uh, I think you need to do it for a while. I think you need to really troubleshoot it. It doesn't need to be uh, oh, I tried this for a couple of weekends and I made a lot of them, and I have a bunch of sourdough starters, so come jump on this. I feel like you need to really troubleshoot a lot of what you do. Um, you know, specifically for baking. Bake for your friends, bake for your family a lot. Um, and truly get feedback on it. I mean, your friends and family may not be incredibly honest with you, but make sure that your product is consistent all the time. Yes. Um, make sure your kitchen's clean. Make sure you have a lovely spot, keep your animals out of your kitchen before you start. I mean, because we have I I love the fact that Oklahoma has cottage food laws. Love that. That is a really, really great place to start. But you need to be clean and be efficient and make sure it's something that can be repeatable. Um, I've seen people do these little porch pickups for bakeries. I think that's such a good idea to get started. Right. Because yeah, you may think you love it and you may think you want to do this every single day. This is a very hard job. I don't know. And it looks pretty and it looks lovely, but you don't see all of the exhausting hours. And so if you started with that little porch pickup thing, you would see that it's not just the morning that you're working it, it is the days leading up to it, and it takes time away from what you want to do. And if you still love it, then yes, keep going with it.
SPEAKER_01Because it is a job.
SPEAKER_03It is a job, yes, yeah. It's a job I love, yeah, but it is still a job.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and so not to belabor this, but I realize I didn't actually bring this up. So something I learned that y'all do is y'all are small batch, yes, also, which is different than a what a lot of other places do. Yeah. And do you think that that maybe the play the pie places in New York, maybe that might be some of why? I do think so.
SPEAKER_03It's so funny you say that. So be coming from the world of bakeries, when my mom and I started this together, I was of the mindset that everything had to be a big batch because I was used to big batch making cupcakes and yes, yes, cakes, all that stuff. Um, even pie crust. Because I was making pie crust for other bakeries in a gigantic mixer, and I was making, you know, a ton at one time. And my mom and I really butted heads in the beginning about this because she was like, No, no, I I think we can have a better product if we make a smaller batch. And I was like, that is gonna take so long. You do not understand how much that's gonna take. And she was like, I'm willing to do it. So she was our pie crust queen in the beginning, and we do make our pie crust one at a time by hand, and she doesn't work in the pie shop as much anymore. But I have taken that over. I I it is a secret recipe. I literally have not given it out to anyone. My mom and I just and then I I don't have it written down anywhere. Oh it's in our heads, I need to write it down somewhere, tattoo it on me or something, you know, and take that to the grave with me. But it is something that I am not willing to give up yet, but I do think that has truly set us apart. We get comments on our crust all the time. It is incredibly flaky. I think it tastes really good. There's a lot of times where um certain bakeries have you can kind of taste the crisco, you taste the lard, that you know, it's overworked and it feels tough. Ours uses all butter. It is not overworked at all. I try not to, you know, touch it very much. But I also feel like sometimes people are really scared of pie crust. Yes. And when they go to make it, it is like incredibly rule heavy. We have developed a recipe in such a way that I can make it very fast and very efficient, that it can be rolled out and kind of manipulate manipulated in such a way that we don't have to be as careful, but yet still have a really, really good pie crust. So, and yeah, doing small batches I think is it's really key. Also, because I can train my staff to this is what it looks like every single time, and we're constantly tasting it, making sure. I mean, I I don't want to ever have a day, you know, you know, if I'm out of town or I'm gone for the day, well, all the pies don't taste the same. Right. They have to taste the same every single day, non-stop. And and I will say my staff is really good about I mean, even just this last week, there was a little tweak, there was something wrong, and it's not just me noticing it, it is my girls who are like, that looks a little bit different. Yeah, what did we do wrong? How do we fix this? And we're determined to get it right. And we did, we we figured out that it was a problem with you know, whether it was a mixing or whether it was, you know, an oven temperature. So I think doing small batches, it creates a better product, creates a more consistent product, and then I can also replicate that with a bunch of other bakers.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, I have always heard that the pie crust is the hardest part of a pie. So that's mastered, but I do think that it definitely says something whenever you're willing to sacrifice the profit because honestly, it's it you would bit profit more if you did large batch for the product.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I will say too, I don't have enough space to put a big mixer back there. Yeah. Um, and I also don't even think if we got a bigger space, I would want to put a giant mixer in there. It's I I do think your quality goes down. Um that's not to say that other places that are doing larger qualities has a bad product. I'm not saying that at all. I just found that doing it our way makes more sense. Yes. Um, and I don't know, I I'm kind of a control freak about it. And I feel like we can be in more control. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01So Common Tart feels very intentional, warm, inviting, almost nostalgic. Um, I I know if you've even looked at there's images in the store, but even online. Tell me about that photo shoot, that branding shoot that is all featured here, even on the walls. Like, tell me about this. Because is this the starting point for the brand? Was this the starting point?
SPEAKER_03So, this was an idea that I had a long time ago just because I personally love hands. Yeah, I think hands tell a story. These are actually all the hands of the women in my family. Oh, and so that big one is my great-grandmother. She passed away a couple years ago, but then it goes all the way down to my little sister. Um, I've got cousins in there, my mom's sisters, my aunts, um, my two sisters. And um, I had this idea for my own house. I wanted to have photos of our hands, and so then as we were kind of developing what we wanted this to look like, my mom is very good. My mom has a really beautiful home, and so and she's designed it herself. And so when we were opening this, I had no real vision in mind. I just knew that I didn't want it to look like a traditional bakery. I wanted it to feel like a home, but not homey in a way that felt like antique y or like in a grandma way, but almost like a comforting way. Yeah. Um, and I I told her I was like, just make it look like your house. You know, just go, you know, do whatever. And so it started with the photos. It also started what she happened to go to, I think it was like an auction or an estate sale, and they had tons of gold mirrors. And she was like, What if we did a mirror wall? And I was like, Yeah, sure, we'll do that. And then I also wanted it to feel I didn't want it to feel feminine or feel frou-frou or girly. I wanted it to feel, um, I feel like sometimes men feel awkward going into a bakery. 100%. And it yeah, it feels a little fluffy. And um, I'm so glad to say that we have a very large male um, you know, clientele. People come in here for meetings and people bring other male friends in here. I also feel like pie, it kind of feels manly too. Your grandmother used to make it for you, so you can, you know, come in and still eat that slice of pie. But yes, I I I wanted to keep that intentional. Um, and I wanted it to feel like my family just kind of bled into um a pie shop or a bakery or something.
SPEAKER_01Well, obviously, I did not know about whose hands I was seeing, but I could tell obviously it was a very strong imagery to to have, and I could see that on the website and everything, and in here in the store. So I love that and very nostalgic because, like you said, your grandmother, all these things. Yeah. So this was that was just kind of your vision from day one to just feel like home, but not grandma's home.
SPEAKER_03Yes, and it's funny you say nostalgic though, because I wanna one thing I told my girls this year, I was like, I feel like our pies are elevated nostalgia. We take very, very common pie recipes. It is like the coconut cream, the key lime, you know, an apple pie, those things that have been around for years. I did not create that. That is not me. But I made, I feel like we have made a good version of what those are. And um, I I mean, I love when someone comes in and they're like, you know, this is better than my mom's, better than my grandmother's. I'm like, well, don't tell her that. Don't tell them. Don't tell her, but I'm so thankful that you're saying that because, you know, I did I I'm not inventing this, I've not invented anything new. I just want to make sure that we're making a really good version of whatever it is. I love that.
SPEAKER_01That's a great description. That's great. So you already mentioned a few things um that you've said no to that didn't fit your vision. But even how does that fall into the brand that you wanted to create? What are some things that you had to say no to because it didn't fit the brand?
SPEAKER_03Um, a big one is coffee. Um, I said no to coffee for a long time. Um, that was a big thing people wanted us to have in the beginning was to have a full espresso bar.
SPEAKER_01Oh, okay, I see. Yeah, and I think you do have, but we we do have it, yes.
SPEAKER_03But but I mean, I we did not have it for four years. Okay. And um people were were bugged and they were bummed and they would be like, you know, you can make a lot of money from that, you can make a lot of money from that. And I I very much wanted this to be known as a pie shop that happened to serve coffee, not a coffee shop that you could come get pie from. Yeah. And there's lots of places that you go to and you go there for coffee and you walk out and leave. I personally don't drink very much coffee at all. I mean, if any. And so I don't have a passion for that. So because I didn't have a passion for it, yeah, why would I bring it in and make it kind of a forefront of my business? Right. And so I think that kind of made people mad in the beginning, but I didn't care because I was like, but my pie's really good. Yeah. How about you fall in love with my pie? And I let people bring in their own coffee. Yeah, bring it in. Like we we had a couple people that came and did a coffee pop-up here. I'm not opposed to it being here. I just couldn't bring it about in a way that made sense for us. And then um, a friend of mine was like, Well, have you thought of a pour over coffee? So we did it in a way that made sense. I like the way that we present it now. Oh my word. It's in a little, yeah, it's in a little um a little teapot. You're kind of pouring it yourself. It feels more elevated than just I sat down a cup of coffee in front of you. Also, I didn't want to have to have an espresso machine because I don't want to pay a barista to do something that everyone else is doing. I love that they're doing that, but I didn't want to do that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, that is brilliant because I could see how the pressure, because I am a coffee drinker. Yeah, yeah. So 100% when I came, I'm like, oh, I'm getting the coffee, plus it's Nordagia. Yes, yeah, which is a local great coffee. Yeah. I mean, I I do I see I I'm a coffee person.
SPEAKER_03No, and and I respect that people are, so I'm not I'm not saying that I, you know, that the coffee people made me mad or anything. Right. But I just knew that I wasn't passionate about it. But there are so many other people that love their coffee, that knew that it was good, and that could like totally geek out on it. I couldn't. Yeah. And I couldn't find a way to do it in our business that made sense to us. And so when I finally did, I feel really good about the coffee we have now. Yeah, it you should it tastes good. I think it looks lovely when it's brought to your table, and it's a way that makes sense. And so I feel like a lot of people, it goes back to what I was saying, just because you can doesn't mean that you should. Did people tell us that we needed to have that in the beginning? Yes, they did. And could I have been making money from that? Yes, but it didn't feel like something I needed to have in the moment, and so I waited until I found a way to do it in a in a way that was I thought prettier. Yes, you know, I like the way that we do it.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yeah. Well, I'm glad you didn't do it also because how many coffee shops want to be a coffee shop, but they have to add in the food to make money because you gotta sell a lot of coffee to make it.
SPEAKER_03Yes, and I know that I said no to money in the beginning because I said no to coffee. Yeah, and I think a coffee shop model is a really good one, so I'm not dogging that at all. But I was a baker, first and foremost, and I am not a coffee person, so why don't I show off the stuff that I can do really well? Yes, and then later on can come the other stuff, the added stuff. And I just feel like people need to I love a place that niches down. Yes, I love a place that finds something they're really good at and you focus on that versus being everything to everyone, right?
SPEAKER_01That's what it makes you stick stand out, and that's what makes people be like, I have to go there because literally you can't get that anywhere. Exactly, yes. So obviously you work with family, your mom most directly, but you've included a lot of your family in. So, how has that been working with family? Because not everyone has such the great experience.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's true. Um, we've been working together for a long time. Uh, my grandmother is a cook, and so at churches all growing up, you know, she was the church cook, or my mom was, and so we've all been working as a family in a kitchen environment for a very long time. So moving over into this was not a difficult transition. Um it just kind of, I don't know, it's just a little different than serving church people, yeah, because you have actual customers that can write you a review. So, but I will say when uh in the beginning it was like my whole family on a Friday night when it was like my grandparents, my parents up here. That was like a very special, I hate to use the word vibe, but it very much was a vibe because my grandparents were chit-chatting with all the customers. My parents were, it felt different and it felt more homey and um just a different feel than it is now. I do miss that kind of family feel as we get bigger and as our schedules change, you know, right that that can't happen anymore. But um, yeah, those those days are really special. Um, my mom and I work really, really well together. At least I mean she may tell you a different story, but I think we do. There were definitely times that we we butted heads um on like our big days, and I will say this was the big lesson that I had to learn because I um I'm a very even-keeled person, personality-wise, and things don't tend to stress me out until it gets a little too much, and then I'm not a nice person in those moments. And there were moments where I, you know, it was like a busy day. There's one day in particular that I can remember. We were slammed. It was like a pie day or a mother's day or father's day.
SPEAKER_01Is it just person out there? Line out the door.
SPEAKER_03Yes, line out the door. It is tickets flying in and out of the window. I mean, it is we cannot slice pie fast enough. The the, you know, it's full in here, it's full outside. There are days where it is just completely and you know, complete and utter chaos. And in the beginning, um, there was a particular day that my mom, she was like coming from somewhere, so she wasn't here at the beginning of the day, and she was coming in later than everybody else. My dad was here, my sister was here, my grandmother was here, like all of us were here just working like crazy. And my mom walked in and I very much needed her help to get through the tickets, and instead, she went over and she started sweeping the floor and mopping and then started doing the dishes. And I wanted to scream. I was so mad. And afterwards I thought, or in the moment I was like, can she not realize we need to go over and do this? And I very much had to check my myself at the end of that and probably apologize to her for how rude I was, but then I realized afterwards I went to it was like two days later or something, I went to this meeting and it was like a woman in business, and they had us take a very small version of the disc assessment test. Have you ever taken that test?
SPEAKER_01I don't think I have, not the full one.
SPEAKER_03Okay, okay. So they we took like a small version of it, and I realized that I and I think I'm gonna say this wrong, but I think I was like a high D. And then the lady was describing that high D's work really well with either like a high S or a high C. And I could tell that that version was my mom, and they were like, Oh, they work so well together, and I was like, Oh, yeah, that totally makes sense. We work so well together, tell this, and they're like, but they they have two different sets of Priorities. And in that moment, I realized my mom and I had very different sets of priorities. And in a way that you know, when she came in and saw that we were incredibly busy, she also noticed what customers would see. And the fact that we didn't have dishes ready and that we had made a mess everywhere. She went and took care of something that I had completely overlooked. Yeah. And I was taking care of the thing that she was overlooking. So in the moment that it made me angry, I should have been so grateful because she was taking care of something I didn't want to take care of and I wasn't thinking of. And so I it I definitely had to readjust my own bratiness, basically, and realize that my mom and I had a different set of priorities and it was working so perfectly well together. So I feel like people in business, if you're gonna be in a partnership of some kind, take that disc assessment test. Take a personality test and some and be honest about it. Yeah. Because yeah, you may be like on our perfect days, we are gelling. And yes, my mom and I work so well together, but in the heat of the moment, when we're both stressed, how you know, where what corners can we go to to thrive separately? And once I realize that, my mom is really great with the customers. So on a busy day, we put her up front and she is up at the counter and she can she can slow that line down, she can speed that line up, she can kind of control that. Whereas I like the busyness in the back and I like the to get the stuff in and out of the kitchen. So you have to find where you thrive, and I feel like that helped. It helped me because I was being a brat. Yeah, well and I had to realize how to work on the phone. That is great advice though.
SPEAKER_01That's great advice. So take the disc assessment and it'll help you see some of those friction points why that is.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. And I also think I think it would help you in hiring too, making sure that if you know you're a high this or a high that or whatever, what kind of person you need to look for.
SPEAKER_01So, what has growth looked like for you personally through this? Because this is a that was a growth point. Yes. Just learning more about yourself and how you work well with others.
SPEAKER_03I do think it's been that mostly. It has been um, like I said, I am kind of a pretty even keeled person, but in those moments when it is stressful, um, I do have to tell myself this is just pie. I mean, at the end of the day, we're just making pie. Yes, yes, but it is just that. I'm not I'm not a brain surgeon, I'm not doing anything massive. Now, does it mean something important to me? Yes. Yeah, but you know, it is something simple, and I can just relax about it, and you know, we'll get through it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. High stress, but you you have to keep that perspective to keep that like in high stress environments, like in the kitchen to keep that perspective. What is something you would tell someone who was about to take their own leap of faith in business?
SPEAKER_03Ooh, lots. Um, in business in general or in like the food business?
SPEAKER_01Either. Whichever. I mean, if you want to be specific.
SPEAKER_03This is a silly one, but you need to keep all your receipts. Um, my mom was really good at that in the beginning. Um, we we got audited almost our first year of business. Really? Yes. That's crazy. Yes. And my mom happened to have all of the receipts, all of the everything, and it was no problem at all. She had kept, I mean, if I had been in charge of that, that would have been a nightmare.
SPEAKER_01So it's just like, what are the chances of that? Yes.
SPEAKER_03And so it was just kind of, and it I don't even know if it was like a the a scary audit or what it was exactly, but it was something where we had to basically list every single thing we'd ever purchased ever. Yeah. And my mom was amazing and had all of those receipts. So that's something silly. Um but uh let me think. When someone's trying to start a business, I just think be really intentional. Be figure out what you're really good at, um, and be okay, going back to what I've said before, be okay with saying no to things. Um be honest with what you can and cannot do. If you can, don't do it on a credit card.
SPEAKER_05That's good.
SPEAKER_03Um, I know that that's hard for some people, but it's very hard for some people. Yeah, if you can.
SPEAKER_01Are you Dave Ramsey person? I know you referenced it.
SPEAKER_03I love Dave Ramsey. Um, yes, my parents are very Dave Ramsey people too, so that helped a lot. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01That brings a lot of security into your business and your life. Yes, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, I'm also okay with trying out a lot of stuff. We've tried, you know, to find different things that work for us. We tried to do, you know, have little vendors in here for a while and do those kinds of things. I realized that that was not efficient, it didn't work for us, so we pivoted away from that. Yeah. Um, we used to have music every single Friday night, and I think some people loved it. And then our other customers that were coming in just wanted to have kind of a chill night, so we stopped doing it all the time. I just think people need to be okay with pivoting a lot and figuring out what does work um for them.
SPEAKER_01So that's great. Um, what is next for Commentarts? Anything on the horizon?
SPEAKER_03I can't think of anything. That you want to share. That I want to share. I mean, other than like, you know, moving a opening a spot in New York. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Obviously, obviously that's happening to you.
SPEAKER_03Obviously, yes, running that. Wouldn't that be great? Um, I'm always thinking of a second location, truly. Um, and how we, yes, how we open that, what that looks like, yeah. Um, how I make sure that the staff here can handle that to move into the next one. Um just how to build a business that can be replicated. Yeah. Um, whether that whether we even open up another spot or not, I want us to run efficiently in such a way that we could and that we are able to do that. Our kitchen is small. Um, I love our little kitchen. I actually really love little kitchens more than a big one. But on like a holiday, I want to have a gigantic refrigerator and a freezer. And if I had that, that would change you know our whole business. Um, on Thanksgiving, we serve any or we sell anywhere between six to seven hundred pies on that day. Yes. Yeah. And so we spend four solid days baking. Um, but I have nowhere to store it. So we rent a refrigerated cooler that sits in our parking lot for that day. And I love having that additional space. Yeah. So if the next step is us moving into another spot that just gives me a bigger fridge and freezer, I would love that so very much. Yeah. But I mean, we do pump out so much food out of here with what limited space we have. We are constantly paying playing Tetris back there and finding all of the spots to put everything in. Um, it's kind of funny if you see us on a, you know, before a holiday or something, we are bursting at the seams, but we we make it work right there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. You get creative.
SPEAKER_03We do, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, so I think that's also a benefit of keeping things simple is it allows you to be duplicated. Duplicatable, is that the right word? Yeah, yeah. Duplicatable.
SPEAKER_03We'll make it a word if it's not a word, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So keeping it streamlined and focused allows for that. Yeah. So um, what does success look like for you moving forward? Because you're already, I mean, I would it's hard to not think you're maxed out in some ways. Yeah. But what does success look like here?
SPEAKER_03Ooh. You know, I don't even really know.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, because I do feel like we're pretty successful right now. So I mean, I've been very happy with the growth that we've had. I I do feel like it's very easy for a small business to because we live online and because I am, you know, never off of Instagram, you're constantly seeing the businesses that have a line down the block every day, all day that they're open. Yes, it's so fun. And the fact that they're opening multiple locations and it's big and it's this, um, that does not mean that just because you're not doing that doesn't mean you're not successful. Right. And I do feel like you have to know what works for you. Um, and our slow growth has helped us um, it has it's helped us iron out a lot of things. When we were setting up a website this last year, we we finally I took a long time to really properly set up a website. And when I was talking with the guy that set it up, which I think our website looks lovely, I told him, I don't want this, I don't want this, I know how our ordering system needs to work, I know this. And he made the comment and he was like, I'm it's so nice that you have already troubleshot all of these things. And I'm grateful the fact that I didn't immediately jump in and basically create a problem for myself, yes, but I didn't have to. So we have ironed out so much stuff, and my mom is really good at this, my staff is good at this. Every time we have a big holiday, we have a big day, we have something, we talk through what we did wrong. And we're always willing to change and kind of pivot away from what we did and what we didn't do. So because we have grown slowly and in a really manageable way, it has helped us, I think, stay successful and you know, be able to hire people, you know, more and more people. So I've been so happy with the way our business has gone. I mean, of course, there's things over time that I'm like, oh, that was a fail, or don't want to do that again. But overall, I'm so happy with the way that is. So I just want more of this. I want more locations, I want more people to enjoy pie. I think pie is sometimes better than everything else. And so more people need to eat pie.
SPEAKER_01Well, and just a reminder, because I think this is an important reminder too, those businesses that you see having lines out the door and opening new spots here, just that visual that doesn't equate to successful even behind the scenes because you don't know what's going on in their bank account, you don't know what's going on in their kitchen. Yes, yeah, you know, yeah. So just a friendly reminder.
SPEAKER_03Yes, oh yeah. To everybody. It's hard. It's hard when you see this and you want I it's you know, you see the nitro bars out there and you see the the places that are just bursting and it's so cool, and you're like, I want that, I want that. Do you really want that? Do you really want to, you know, have something go viral and you can't you can't sustain it, you can't actually make it work for you?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So have you had that happen to you where something went viral, like even a special flavor of the month or something like that?
SPEAKER_03We have some that are like, you know, randomly really popular.
SPEAKER_01And you're like, how did that happen? And you're like, oh, so and so posted a video.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that'll happen, or you know, it'll just be like someone was talking about it. Like we we made a pie um years ago. It was a banana pudding pie. Oh, I served it for like a weekend, and it was so crazy popular. People were actually angry we didn't have enough of it. And so now we try to have like a drop of once a month. I can make that. Should I have put that on a regular menu? No, I don't think I should have because then it would have diluted the love of this special thing. So I almost kind of took a product that I think could have been viral, and I'm like, we're gonna hold this back. Yeah, I I love a little, we're gonna tease you. We're only gonna put out just so many, so you keep coming back for more. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01You can't discover something else you love. Exactly. Yes. So just for fun, what is your favorite pie to make?
SPEAKER_03My favorite pie to make is our fudge brownie.
SPEAKER_01Okay, is that one you have all the time?
SPEAKER_03Usually, yeah, that's on the daily, it's also my favorite one to have on our regular menu. It's a fudge brownie with pecans. Um, I love it. It's all made in one giant bowl. So for laziness reasons, it's nice because you're only dirtying one bowl. But I just it smells so good. It smells good when it's baking. When it's done, it looks so pretty. Um, it's also just so delicious because it's a fudgy brand. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01What's your most underrated flavor, do you think?
SPEAKER_03Ooh, underrated flavor?
SPEAKER_01I was like, why are more people not talking about this? I had the orange pistachio last weekend, and I thought that was probably underrated because I'm like, I feel like most people wouldn't just go to that, but I took it and I'm like, this is so cool. It's so, so good.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's one of our specials. We'll have that one until the end of June.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_03Um, I think one of the underrated ones is our a giant oatmeal cream pie.
SPEAKER_05Okay.
SPEAKER_03I think people just think of it as just a cookie, and it is. It's a gigantic little Debbie's cookie. Um, fun fact, I actually won a Tulsa State Fair blue ribbon for that recipe. Yes, years and years ago.
SPEAKER_00So funny.
SPEAKER_03Um, so which is why we put it on the menu just for just to be fun.
SPEAKER_01But um we need that blue ribbon up there. We should.
SPEAKER_03You know what I should? I should stick that up there. That's a good idea. Um, but no, I think that one's really, really good. I think people are, you know, it's like, is that really a pie? Yes, it's just oil cream pie. Yes.
SPEAKER_01Well, I mean, when I saw it, I was like, oh, I'd get that. Yeah. But I was like, oh, but this is a special limited time.
SPEAKER_03Or like the pear almond. That one is so pretty. Um, the well, we're actually gonna make that one today, so you may smell it soon if you're here long enough. Nice. But um, yeah, that one is it's just a really lovely one, and I feel like it looks pretty on a table. So if if you want a lovely little spread, that's a good one to have.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so they if you haven't ordered, like this is another reason I would say that um even taking to-go is an experience because the way that you package the to-go is so cute. Oh, thank you. It's like a cloth ribbon. What or some sort of cloth ribbon?
SPEAKER_03Yeah. You know, it act that actually came out at like totally by accident.
SPEAKER_00Really?
SPEAKER_03We had been open for a few days, so years ago. We've been open for a few days. This guy came in and said that he was getting some pie to take back to like his girlfriend or his wife or something. And he was like, Is there any way you could wrap this up really pretty? We had no real packaging at the time. We had those little boxes. That was it. I don't even think we had bags. I mean, this was truly like the first week we were open. My mom happened to have some scrap fabric in the back because she was making a project of something. And she was like, you know what? I'll figure this out. So she went back and she ripped off a piece of the fabric, and then someone had bought us a bouquet of flowers to celebrate our opening. She clipped off a flower and stuck it in there. And the guy was like, Oh, this is great. And like three people in line behind him were like, Well, I want that one too. So we did it for everybody else that day. And she was my mom was like, Should we do this for every single one? So now we do. I go buy gigantic pieces of muslin. We rip up all the muslin into like little thin shreds, basically. And then I go buy flowers once, twice a week from Trader Joe's, and we snip it off. And so it feels it's that thing, it feels intentional, it feels special. And people are always like, Oh, well, you don't have to wrap it. I'm like, no, no, it's a gift. You have a little present for yourself every day if you want. And then also it feels special if you're taking it to a friend. And I love that that packaging, it doesn't have to say comment art all over it, right? You know it's from us. Yes, because it doesn't say commentart all right. It doesn't say it anywhere, yeah.
SPEAKER_01But you know, it does by the product. Exactly. It's just there. Yeah. I love that. I love that story. That is the best story. Okay, so this might be totally random, and maybe no one else can relate to this, but I'll tell you what it made me think of, or what it makes me maybe this is what this whole shop makes me feel like. Little women, like me, Winoma Ri Rhinona Rider. Little woman. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Did you watch that? Oh, of course I did.
SPEAKER_01Do you know the flower like where she would tie up her manuscript and put a flower in there? Right. That's what it makes me think of.
SPEAKER_04We forgot about the oh my goodness, I'm obsessed.
SPEAKER_00Yes, that's what it made me feel like. Oh, I love that.
SPEAKER_04Okay. That was nostalgia. Elevated nostalgia we were talking about. I love it. Oh my gosh, I'm gonna have to go back and watch that movie just because you said that now.
SPEAKER_01I love that movie. Me too. But before we close, this is one question I always ask. Yeah. What is one thing that you don't have fully figured out yet, but you're choosing to build through anyway?
SPEAKER_03Oh, that's probably a lot. Um, I would say as we grow, I am trying to figure out what my role is as an owner because I'm obviously not in the nitty-gritty of every single baked good that goes out. Um, I do make all of the pie crust. So, you know, the foundation is me, but I have to very much stay in the office and I do all the boring stuff. So it is how does that how does my role grow and how do I delegate? So I feel like that's the one thing I don't have totally figured out. Yeah, but I feel like that's an ever-evolving as you get bigger and bigger. Um, I just don't think a lot of people talk about that, you know, almost kind of letting go of just doing the dishes. I mean, I still do the dishes occasionally, but it's like I'm letting go of these small things, but I want to make sure that I'm still letting my staff know that's the way I want it done.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_03So I think just trying to figure that out.
SPEAKER_01They might not talk about it because we can be bad about letting go. Because it's releasing.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. And I want to let go in a way that um I don't know, still makes people feel like they're it was touched by me though. I still want it to feel like Alexandra and my, you know, my mom, Cherie, that it is is still us in in the whole thing. I don't like when a business gets too big and you lose what they used to be or they used to be really good. Yeah. I want us to stay good all the time, even if I'm not the one that made that pie for you. You know that the standard went all the way down the line.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that is so good. That is so good. Okay, so tell everyone where they can find you physically and online.
SPEAKER_03Okay, okay. So we are we have the best address in all Tulsa. It is 1717 East 17th Street. I know. We are right in the middle of Midtown. We are tucked right east off of Utica. Um, we're behind the urgent care. We're across, I mean, I can like literally give you all the things I tell people on the phone when they call. Um so yeah, we're in Midtown. And then if you you can find our website, which is where you can order whole pies, it's commentart.com. And then you can find us on Facebook and Instagram under CommentArt.
SPEAKER_01Yes. And you'll want to follow them, yes, see what's going on. Because y'all do some late night events too. We do.
SPEAKER_03Well, and every Friday night we stay open until nine. Uh we'll extend our hours as we get into the summer into 10 o'clock. We're definitely gonna bring back our movie nights. We have live music.
SPEAKER_01Um, yeah, we do a lot of fun stuff. Lots of fun. Yeah. Okay. Well, that is it for this session of the back office. If this conversation gave you clarity, a new angle, or even just the reminder that you're not the only one navigating this, then it did its job. Take what's useful, apply it, move on it, because no one has it fully figured out. But we are building anyway. And if you found this valuable, share it with another operator who's building, and you can always hang out with us in between sessions online at Signify Marketing Social. I'm Delena Dillon, and we will see you next time.