December 29, 2022 • 45 mins
Entrepreneurs are “dream big” people. No risk no reward! But how do you know if you truly want to make a career out of your passion? Candace Nelson was always a joyful baker, but she also ended up revolutionizing the entire baking industry and judging everybody else’s cupcakes on The Food Network’s Cupcake Wars. In her new book Sweet Success: A Simple Recipe to Turn your Passion into Profit, and here with Ali, she shares the story behind the Sprinkles phenomenon, what she believes is the crux of entrepreneurship, the importance of branding in an Amazon world and some keystone advice for new entrepreneurs. Happy New Year!
If you have questions or guest suggestions, Ali would love to hear from you. Call or text her at (323) 364-6356. Or email go-ask-ali-podcast-at-gmail.com. (No dashes)
**Go Ask Ali has been nominated for a Webby Award for Best Interview/Talk Show Episode! Please vote for her and the whole team at https://bit.ly/415e8uN by April 20, 2023!
Links of Interest:
Candace’s Book: Sweet Success, a Simple Recipe to Turn your Passion into Profit
Best in Dough, featuring Pizzana co-founder and master pizzaiolo Daniele Uditi now streaming on Hulu
CREDITS:
Executive Producers: Sandie Bailey, Lauren Hohman, Tyler Klang & Gabrielle Collins
Producer & Editor: Brooke Peterson-Bell
Associate Producer: Akiya McKnight
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Go, Ask Alli, a production of Shonda Land
Audio and partnership with I Heart Radio. When I have
been with friends and that happened and I paid my pants,
I did lose the room, they did leave. I saw
her light up and I was like, I'm just going
to work, but we are here until one of our
last breaths. I was just the one that was meant
(00:22):
to take care of mamma. It's for me to remember
every single day is that I always have a choice.
Everyone always has a choice. Whenever somebody says no, you
can't or there's no rules for you, or you have
to look like this, I go. I'll show you. I'll
show you. Welcome to Go, ask Allie. I'm Alli Wentworth
(00:45):
and I have an idea for New Year's Eve. Besides
a little champagne, I thought I'd have little chocolate cupcakes
with silver balls on them. I know, very exciting, but
I'm a baker and I love to make annies and
Hello dollies and chocolate chip cookies and cakes. I mean,
there's a reason George Stephanopoulos married me, and it's not
(01:06):
because I have a great ass. Actually, on one of
our first dates, I made a turkey bolonnaise, and a
chocolate cake that had him get up on the table
and howl at the moon. So I love anything baked,
which is why I'm so excited for my guest today
because she is the pre eminent cupcake creator, Candice Nelson.
She's an entrepreneur, New York Times best selling author, and
(01:28):
Wall Street Journal contributor. Through her most recent book, Sweet Success,
Candice shares her recipe for turning passion into profit. Listen,
if you've ever visited a revolutionary Sprinkles bakery or a
Pizzana pizzeria that, my friends is Candice Nelson and you
might know or has a judge on Netflix's Sugar Rush
and Food Networks had one of my favorite shows, Cupcake Wars.
(01:51):
She's a co creator and executive producer of Who Who's
Best in Dough? Yep, Candice Nelson has it all going
on both sweet and savory. Candice Nelson. So, I'm looking
at you in a split screen on my computer and
you have perfectly wavy hair dewey makeup. So thank you
(02:14):
for looking so glamorous for us. It is my pleasure.
I am honored to be here. Well, I'm so happy
to be here. With you because I haven't seen you
in like over ten years, and the last time I
saw you, I had just stuffed a red, velvet sprinkled
cupcake in my mouth. I had started a nonprofit in Washington,
(02:35):
d c U called Baby Love, and you gave us
a big fat check, and I thank you for that. Well,
my goodness, that was a really fun event, and thank
you for including us in that, of course, and so
impressive to me because I thought, you know, here's a cupcake.
We all love to eat, whether we're pretending to watch
(02:56):
our weight or not. And you know, you were so
from the beginning so philanthropic that I just thought, what
incredible organization. And now, Candice Nelson, you are an empire.
You are not just delicious cupcakes that I gave everybody
whenever I could. But you have your book coming out,
(03:19):
you have TV shows. I mean, there's a lot to
dig into here, which I'm very excited about. But let's
let's start from the beginning, because I like to I
like to tell a story. So you're, what is it
right to say, an investment banker? That's what you started out? Yes,
I mean it real investment bankers would kind of raise
their eyebrows at that because I was just out of
(03:42):
undergrad So I was a financial analyst in corporate finance, um,
working with all the bankers. Right, okay, so we'll call
you a banker of sorts investment banking. Yes, you were
wearing your ant tailor suit and your heels, and one
day you just how didn't you know that? I just
just to guess and you decided, you know, damn it,
(04:05):
I want to bake. How did that happen? How did
that decision come to you? And why didn't I do
that when I could? I was sort of the unlikely entrepreneur.
I was raised in this family that was very risk averse.
My dad was a corporate lawyer, very loyal employee. Over time,
(04:25):
we were taught that education was the way, um, you know,
get a job at a great company and climb the
corporate ladder to success and stability. And so I was
well on my way to doing that. I started at
the investment bank as a financial analyst. Then I went
to an internet startup. It was the dot com boom
of the late nineties, and then two things happened. One,
(04:48):
the dot com bust happened, So I was out of
a job. So I had done all the quote unquote
right things, and I was completely unemployed with no prospects.
And then the next thing that happened not that long after.
It was nine eleven, and so I mean it was
just recently married. I was so excited about life and optimistic,
and then all of a sudden there was this dark
(05:08):
shadow over everything. But what it really crystallized for me
was the fact that life can be really fleeting and
there is no security and despite all your best intentions,
your best laid plan, like it can all evaporate tomorrow.
And so for me that was a really that was
an AHA moment um. You know, I've done all the
right things. I was without a job. I was now
(05:31):
questioning what I wanted to do with my life. It
was the first time I'd really asked myself that question,
like what do I want to do? What do I
want to do that brings me joy? And what do
I want to do that actually has some meaning and
gives back to the world, even if it's in a
very small way, like a piece of cake. So I
took my first step off that well trodden path, and
(05:51):
I decided to go to pastry school instead of business school.
So much more fun, by the way, so much more fun. Yeah,
and were you always a baker? I mean I've always
been a baker. I've been baking my whole life, and
I've always baked with my kids. Even now that they're teenagers,
I still forced them to bake with me. But so
it is, it is something that you either gravitate towards
(06:14):
and love to do or not. I find there's the
bakers and the non bakers. I totally agree with you.
I think there's definitely a divide, and I'm so happy
you're on my side of the divide alley. I feel
like we could start a baking gang, girl gang, you
and me, um, you know, mean girl bakers. But I
actually started baking with my mom, just like so many
(06:36):
kids do. And but it was extra meaningful for me
because I was growing up as an expat. I was
living in Southeast Asia a lot of my childhood, and
so you know, this was pre internet. This was back
when long long distance calls were expensive and they dropped,
and so really the only way for me to have
a connection to my homeland was through food, and I
(06:59):
couldn't get the foods that I craved from home, like
there were no Rice Crispy treats at the corner store
in made on Sumatra, so I had to learn to
bake them myself. And I spent hours in the kitchen
baking with my mom. We cooked from her m Joy
of Cooking cookbook, and I still remember to this day
it was like all stained and dog eared, and you
(07:19):
could tell which recipes were our favorites. And you know,
I made all the classics, like brownies and you know,
rice Crispy treats, chocsate cookies, sheet cakes. Remember Cooca Cola cake?
We may cola cake. I remember too. I remember my
mother's cookbook and my grandmother's cookbook and there would be
the old crane stationary with like notes written on it
(07:40):
shoved in. For us it was the Fannie Farmer Cookbook.
But you know, there is such a sense of history,
and you know, culturally people hand down food recipes as
kind of a way of of handing down history, and
I think that that's true for every family. There are
certain things in our family, certain dishes, um, my mother's
(08:02):
cram caramel. That's like even the smell of it reminds
me of my childhood. So I I completely get the
nostalgia for food that we grew up with. It's so visceral.
And you know those cookbooks, gosh, I hope you still
have them with the notes, you know, the cards and
just the notes right on the recipes themselves. There's those
(08:23):
are such family heirlooms. And I always encourage people who have,
you know, family members who are getting older that have
their special secret recipe to really get in the kitchen
with them and try to learn it or write it down,
because it's always so sad to me when those recipes
that are in someone's head get lost forever. Yes, except
(08:44):
for my grandmother's prune whip. That's a recipe I let
go that could be lost forever and no one was sad. No,
nobody will miss it and nobody will be sad. Well
with the name like prune went well exactly, they should
have come up with something like very wings or you know,
but no, it's prune whip and it is what it says,
and nobody wants it. It was just bad marketing. Yes,
(09:06):
so you go to pastry school and what was it
about the cupcake that stood out for you so initially?
I mean, I just loved going to pastry school. Initially,
I was going just to test my interest, because a
lot of us have I mean, look at you. You're
a baker and you love it as a hobby you
do with your family, But did you make a career
out of it. No. A lot of people have passions
(09:28):
and hobbies that aren't necessarily going to translate into a job.
So I wanted to test my interest. I wanted to
test whether I even liked getting up every single day,
you know, putting on my chef whites and getting my
hands sturdy and working with all these ingredients. It's physical work.
It was the opposite of what I had been doing,
which was crunching numbers at a desk, and I loved it.
(09:50):
I loved it. Yeah. I mean I first of all
went to this really sweet pastry school in San Francisco.
It was like there was an organic garden in the back.
There was sunlight streaming in. It was just like medicine
for my soul at that point in life, well, particularly
after nine eleven and you know all the tragedy that
came from that. I would imagine that there was a
(10:12):
little bit of sort of escapism and magic to being
at that pastry school so much. Yeah, I wanted to
live in a magical world of like chocolate and sugar
and you know, hand pies, and I love how tangible
it all was, you know, creating these delicious treats and
then being able to hand them to someone to watch
(10:33):
them enjoy it. That was so the simplicity of that
really really spoke to me. Your cup gigs had, well,
they are amazing, but at the time now, I think
we're in a little bit of a recession. When you
started this, and I would imagine there were a lot
of naysayers saying, are you out of your mind you
think that you can make a living making cupcakes, but
(10:54):
that you had to have gotten tremendous feedback when people
ate these cupcakes. That's exactly how it happened. So when
I started considering the cupcake and sort of reinventing the
cupcake and the idea of the first cupcakes only bakery
came to me. Um, I realized that San Francisco, which
(11:14):
is where my husband and I were living at the time,
was not the place because you're right, we had just
gone through the dot com bust. It was, you know,
the economy was in the doldrums, and so we figured
we had to set out for greener pastors, which ended
up being Los Angeles. And we got there and a
lot of our friends had moved down there at the time.
Spent a weekend and went to a few parties, and
(11:36):
all of the parties had the same cake. It was
very bizarre. Really, they have cake in Los Angeles. Yeah,
that was MythBuster or number one. Everyone is nobody eats
cake in Los Angeles, but they do. But they were
all eating the same cake. So I thought, Wow, I
think there's room for a little competition in this market.
(11:56):
So I started selling my cupcakes out of my home
and people were like, you're crazy. I mean, no one
in l A eats carbs. Also, by the way, it
was the height of the South Beach diet. Yeah, I
mean it was like the South Beach iet was on
the New York Times Vesselling cookbook for like twenty weeks already.
And as I drove around Los Angeles, I think coming
(12:17):
from somewhere else and being kind of an outsider to
l A was really an important part of the story
because I was able to look at l A through
fresh eyes and see that there were a whole lot
of burger joints and donut shops on every corner. So
I thought, you know what, I bet there's other people
out there just like me who might be eating the
burger without the bun, but it's because they're saving room
(12:40):
for a really great dessert. And so I started baking
cupcakes out of my kitchen, and sure enough, word spread
and I developed this real cult following, even just out
of my kitchen. So I was able to test my
thesis on a small scale. And that was just all
that was kind of all the traction I needed. That
was all the proof of concept I needed to go
for it. Okay, so what's an X step? Do you
(13:00):
rent a space? Yes, so we rented a space. We
first thought, and I say we because my husband, Charles
was my co founder and all of this and and
has been my partner through all of our businesses. Oh yeah,
we're gonna get to that. We're going to get to that. Okay, Okay,
So so we started looking for a location. But we
(13:21):
had a lot of trouble with that because, as you said,
I mean, it was a new idea cupcakes only bakery.
We were reinventing the cupcake into something gourmet. Everyone thought
it was ridiculous. Idea height of the low carb diet
all of that, and so everybody said no. But we
eventually found a spot, tiny little six hundred square foot
front and back retail kitchen in Beverly Hills and we
(13:43):
got to work transforming this little space. Everyone said, Beverly Hills, like,
that doesn't sound very scrappy. I thought you guys were
just like, you know, doing this sweet little cupcake shop.
And we said, you know what, location, location, location, And
by the way, we are reinventing the cupcake into something
special and elevated and what's more perfect than a nine
(14:03):
o two and oh zip coat exactly, And so that
was the first Sprinkles. That was the first Sprinkles. Charles
and I worked there every day. We spent a few
nights on the kitchen floor, rolling up our aprons and
going to sleep because there's no time to go home
and get any shout I before we had to come
back and turn the ovens on. It was like drinking
(14:25):
from a fire hose from day one. And what was
it in you and Charles that said, like we're going
to persevere, this is going to happen, Like what is
that little voice in your head that sort of pushed
you to success. For so many people that want to
start businesses and just go I can't. I can't sleep
on the kitchen floor. Right The litmus test for me
(14:47):
was will I regret it if I don't pursue this idea.
Creative people have ideas all the time, and I don't
recommend pursuing them all. You have to pursue the right
one at the right time. But for us, us, we
were really passionate about the idea I love to bake.
My passion fueled me. It was contagious it, you know,
(15:07):
all of a sudden, I had suppliers who are rooting
for me, employees who wanted to work with me, and
customers who wanted to spread the word. There was just
something about what we were doing that was so authentic
and genuine that it's spread like wildfire. And also it's different.
We were flying in the face of what people knew,
and and so that got people talking as well. And
(15:29):
I was gonna say, it sounds like it's I can't
not do this. You know, they're sometimes some things in
life where you go, I can't not marry this person,
I can't not pursue this goal. I can't and that
sounds like one of those things. So let's talk about
how one works with one spouse, because it is a
(15:51):
fascinating idea to me. And I have been married for
over twenty years. Um, but we've started working together in
a few things and it's actually fantastic. Dick, I think
it's fantastic. But um and I think it works well
now that we're almost empty nesters too. It's kind of
our next chapter. But you guys started out as partners,
(16:12):
So can you can you tell me a little of
the good, the bad, and the ugly about you know,
for for the people listening who think, oh, maybe me
and my partner will start a dot dot dot, most
of my friends were like, no way, hell no, um no.
For for Charles and myself. You know, what's interesting is
that we actually met in investment banking. We weren't dating
(16:34):
at the time, but we kind of were able to
see each other in a work environment already in a
very highly stressful work environment with lots and lots of hours,
and even at the time, you know, back in the day,
we were able to get by with like a great
work ethic, positive attitude, and at the end of the
day when you're miserable, just a sense of humor. And
I know that that's what you have in spades. Ali,
(16:56):
That's all I have, Candice. It's just one of many
a me and qualities. But it's so important. It's so
important because it's really all about, at the end of
the day, conflict resolution. Like you know, Charles and I
each have our lanes, which is super helpful. And we
both love what we do. So when people say don't
bring home your work, like, we break that rule all
the time because we love what we're doing. We talk
(17:17):
about it at the dinner table. We include our kids
in the conversation, which is super fun now and you
don't feel like all that time spent is too much time,
you know what I mean? Like, there's no mystery when
you're with Yeah, there is no mystery. You are completely
right about that. But I think at the end of
the day, we just really enjoy each other's company. We're
(17:37):
friends and we have fun together and um, ultimately we're
very We're aligned holistically on our life right. Family is important,
our businesses are important, and we each have each other's back.
So if someone has an important meeting or there's a
restaurant opening and you're you know, our kid is sick.
Somebody's got to be on to take our son to
the doctor. Who's it going to be um, And we're
(17:59):
eat there for each other during those moments, Like the
highs are high in entrepreneurship and the lows are really low.
So having that person by your side to like support
you and also celebrate your winds in your house, you know,
it's pretty pretty awesome. Yeah. I was gonna say that
starting a business I think with a partner is probably
(18:20):
very exciting, you know, the newness of it all. And
now you guys are an empire, so it's not like
you're you know, you're not sharing a desk all day,
like you said, you know, people are in meetings and
doing this, so it's almost like you've got two different jobs.
I would imagine. Absolutely. Now I have to, like, we
have to schedule time together. Okay, yes, okay, I got it.
(18:42):
We're not tripping over each other anymore. We were in
the early days, for sure, But but the early days
there is something very exciting about that too. Starting something
new so exciting, And I have to say, you know,
I'm almost embarrassed to say it now, but at the
time I'm not sure I had the confidence um to
start a business on my own. Understand that I didn't.
I didn't come from that world. I didn't know what
(19:03):
I was doing. I mean, not that Charles knew what
he was doing. His only restaurant experience was basically eating
in one right, But just to have his support and
know that, like I had someone who was right there
by my side who believed in me, was really important.
There's a lot more to come after the short break
(19:31):
and we're back. So Sprinkles just became this unbelievable phenomenon.
And so then comes the genius idea of the A
T M. Cupcake. Now, first of all, explain that concept,
because you know you were making fresh cupcakes every day,
(19:54):
So explain the concept of an A T M cupcake machine,
of which I have frequented many times. So okay, So
when we first opened our doors, our idea quickly went
from that's the stupid craziest idea I've ever heard of,
to all of a sudden, it was phenomenon. We were
known for lines out the door, and there were cupcake
(20:14):
bakeries popping up everywhere across the air cut. By the way,
in France, there was a cupcake bakery in Paris, which
I was like, the French don't need cupcakes, they have
all that other great stuff exactly. And so you know,
all of a sudden we were looking around and we
thought we gotta move the needle again. I mean, we
(20:34):
got to differentiate ourselves somehow. Um, all of a sudden,
we're one in a crowded pack, like, what is Sprinkles
going to do next? Because we really thought of ourselves
as innovators at the end of the day, you know,
we were bringing this sort of um innovators perspective to
the bakery industry. There were so many things that we
sort of disrupted about it, and um, so we thought, Okay,
(20:56):
we gotta disrupt again. We gotta be innovators again. And
our real guiding mission and why we Sprinkles was really
just to bring joy and delight in connection to people.
And so I think we were always trying to entertain
these ideas of what's going to delight people, what's going
to sort of, you know, tickle their imagination. I came
(21:17):
home from a party one night late. I was pregnant
with my second son. I had literally eaten dark chocolate
cupcakes through both of my pregnancies. It was gross. It
was so there were so many cupcakes involved, and I
had a craving for a cupcake. There were none in
the house. I started to get a little whiny about it.
And because Charles and I like to embrace what I
(21:38):
call the crazy ideas, we started batting around the idea
of like, what if there was a way to get
a cupcake anytime day or night. And then we were like, actually,
we pay rent twenty four hours a day, like there
really should be a way to do that and monetize.
So that's when we came up with the idea of
like the twenty four hour vending machine. That was ultimately
dubbed the cupcake a dam And so I would have
(22:01):
to imagine when you and Charles are sitting there, you know,
eating leftovers in the kitchen, and you're burping because you're pregnant,
and you said, what about an A T M cupcake machine?
You guys probably were hysterically laughing for a while, right,
Oh yeah, I mean the logistics alone, well, we had
(22:21):
seen sort of a very high end, fancy vending machine
at some hotel, and you know, so that that had
kind of wormed its way into our subconscious and so
we were kind of thinking about, well, what if you
did that, but you put put cupcakes. And so we
looked around the next day UM online just to see
if we could find the company who had created that
(22:43):
high end vending machine. They were based in Europe and
we co developed this cupcake vending machine with them. So
I want to understand how the machine works quickly. So
the cupcakes are there, and are they stalked every day?
Every hour? Like? Does that work? A couple of times
a day? They're fresh, they're in individual boxes, and it's
(23:05):
anytime day or night. And we used to have actually
like a cupcake cam out there back in the day
and we could see, like at three in the morning
all the people rubber machine. It was pretty fun. Yeah,
I'm sure all the women with pms and all the
drunk frat boys must have loved that idea, UM because
(23:27):
when you know, a pedestrian like myself thought about the
cupcake a t M. I thought, how does that work?
How are they fresh, where are they coming from, who's
behind the curtain? All those kinds of things, Because that's
that's what would sort of block me from pursuing that
as an actual reality, I would just say, well, how
could you possibly dot dot dot right? And there you
(23:50):
did it right? And so I think that's the cruxt entrepreneurship,
really right. It's pushing past that initial obstacle of m hmm,
that's probably gonna be hard, or that's impossible, or nobody
has done that before two leaning into I bet we
could figure it out, or what would that look like,
(24:11):
or let's talk about it a little more, let's explore it,
you know. And So this idea of just sort of
you know, what if thinking and leaning into that, I
think is what's so fun for me about entrepreneurship and
what I encourage other people to sort of take away
from my journey. I would say, what if is a
big part of your plan? Like what if to me
(24:31):
is because because now I'm going to ask you about
the pizza dough, because I now I'm understanding that at home,
you and Charles are sitting around going, Okay, what's next,
what's next? What if we did what? You know, we
love pizza, So tell me about pizza. You could have
gone to another pastry, could have gone to another pastry,
(24:51):
but listen, it's dough, but it's savory dough. Yes, but
this was a situation where I encountered another incredibly passionate chef,
Um Charles, and they were at a pizza party. We
love pizza, who doesn't. I love anything carb related, anything
you can pick up with your hands and enjoy. And
(25:12):
took one bite to this pizza, said to myself, wow,
who made this? And you know, sought out Danielle Uditi,
who's are now head chef of Pizzana. He proceeded to
tell me that he had just come from Naples, Italy
with two hundred dollars in his pocket and his nana's
like sour dough starter. He had smuggled it into the
States and luckily had not been cough by customs because
(25:33):
that is the basis of all our Pizzana dough. It
has literally a piece of his family history. And everybody wow.
So again people thought it was a dumb idea. L
A is not known for good pizza, you know, as
a New Yorker alley like l A pizza was like
a laughing stock. Yes, but listen, I lived in l
A for thirteen years and it used to drive me
(25:56):
insane that I couldn't get a good slice of pizza
in Los Angeles. Yes, it was the first thing I
ate in New York, right, and I'm so happy that
that has changed. And really there's been quite an explosion
of pizza in El A recently, and it's really exciting,
all kinds of pizza, and the pizza we call neo
Neapolitan because true Neapolitan, you know, it's kind of soupy
(26:16):
in the middle. You need a fork and knife. But
this has that great shoe and char that Neapolitan do does.
But you can pick it up and it holds. Because
we Americans we like to eat with our hands. I
don't know why, but we do. We're casual. We're very casual.
We're a little we're a little backed up on the
evolution track. We just started being homo erectus, and we
(26:38):
do still eat with their hands. Um. You know, your
next venture should be bagels, if you can create a
delicious bagel in Los Angeles. That was the other thing
I really missed living there. Okay, I'll get right on it. Um. So,
so you have Pizzaana, And now tell me a little
bit about best in Dough, which is such a great Yes.
So you know, I was really fortunate early on in
(27:01):
the Sprinkles days to have a producer come into the
shop and basically say will you be on a Food
Network show? I literally had a baseball hat on, powdered
sugar all over my face and I was like me,
you know, kind of looking around like you can't possibly
mean me. So no, what's called cupcake Wars? We need
the Queen of cupcakes. And I was like, okay, I
guess you're talking to me. And so you were there
from the beginning, right from the beginning, film over a
(27:23):
hundred episodes. Super fun and also really important to the
our brand, our national brand, right that everyone could tune
into the Food Network and see the founder of Sprinkles
Cupcakes as the pre eminent cupcake judge. I have to
tell you we we used to play cupcake Wars at home.
So when my girls had friends over, they played cupcake Wars,
(27:45):
and so George and I would tell them, you know,
the ingredients bacon, maple syrup and whatever, and they'd have
to go make these cupcakes, which I did not work
out so well, Candice, but it was it was like
a really one thing. It was a funny, crafty thing
to do at home, especially on a rainy day. And
you know, Cupcake Wars was like the most fun to watch,
(28:09):
so it was it was a fun show, really ended
up being a hit show. I wish you had been
a guest judge that would that would have been so fun.
I should have called you and said I want to come. Seriously,
that would have been really fun. And again, now there's
eight million shows like that, Like I feel like everything
you do there's like this ripple effect. Well that's very
(28:29):
kind of you. So what's happening with bestin Dough? So
with beston Doe? Here, I have this incredible chef founder partner,
Dan Yelli, and he has this great personality. People love him.
He's like this jolly Italian chat who makes the best pizza?
And I thought you need a show, by the way,
particularly in this divisive world that we live in, right
(28:50):
one are the few things we can all agree on.
I mean cupcakes was one, but pi'sa really like he says,
one of those foods that brings people together. And there's
pizza and basically every culture in the world. And so um,
Danielie has a competition show. It's called Best in Dough
and it's a super fun family show, feel good show,
(29:10):
which I think we could all use right now. And
I'm just excited to watch his his star shine. And
you also have your book coming out, Sweet Success, do
I do so? Sweet Success is shining a light and
finally telling the story of how I built Sprinkles, and um,
it came about very organically in that I've been mentoring
(29:31):
and investing in female and diverse founders since we sold
the majority of Sprinkles, and I really wanted to you know,
mentor people on a larger scale and and sort of
break down the barriers to entrepreneurship, invite more people to
the table, demystify entrepreneurship through this book, because you know
(29:51):
what do we see on TV and media as men
building rocketships to the moon? That that's sort of what
we're all supposed to think of entrepreneurs as text of
once engineers. Um, you know, companies are billion dollar unicorn valuations.
But really, at the end of the day, I think
entrepreneurship is for all, right, Like I built a big
business out of a simple little cupcake, something that anyone
(30:13):
can make. Yes, so tell me this too, because and
I think this is why I love the book Sweet
Success so much, is that even if you're thinking about
starting a small business. You really take people through your
experience with Sprinkles, and because of it, now you're an
angel investor, aren't you? Yes, and explain what an angel
(30:36):
investor is to our listeners. Sure. Basically, Um, you are
investing in early stage startups, UM in checks that are
smaller that than like a venture capital fund would invest in.
And you also bring your expertise, your network, um, your
amplification to the table and just you know, really try
(30:59):
to cheer lead and help these new founders find success. Um,
I have to ask you, why do you have Norwich Terriers?
What is specific about that breed? Do you like? How,
in my very short bio that doesn't even give very
much information, I happen to mention that my dog is
(31:19):
a Norwich Terrier, and I believe me, I'm a dog person,
so I immediately picked that up and we once we
once had a Norwich Terrier. That's why I'm asking you.
Did Yeah, okay, well I need to I know what
I'm going to ask you. Why do you not still
have a norch heir? No? So I love Norwich Terriers
and this is how I discovered them. I used to
run along chrissy Field in San Francisco when I lived
(31:40):
there on the weekends, or actually usually just on Sundays
because I worked in investment banking and that was the
only time you'd ever have off. So I do my
one run for for the week down chrissy Field and
on Sundays at the same time, there would be this
gathering of Norwich Terrier owners and so those are so snobby.
He was running down the path. They were like just
(32:03):
like packs of these little hedgehog style dogs, like the
cutest things I've ever seen. I was like, are they
prairie dogs? Like what type of creature is this? And
these stubby legs and they're kind of stout, and they've
got this like wiry hair and these prick ears and
then oh my god, their personality is so good. So
I'm on my second Orange Terrier. First was Honey. Now
(32:24):
is Willie, which means his name is Willie Nelson. Yes,
it does um and he's just adorable. What is your
breed of choice? Well, so here's the problem with We
had a Norwich Terrier named Cookie, and what happened was
we had two nasty docksins and when we brought Cookie home,
(32:46):
they were so mean to Cookie. We we tried everything.
They were just they would yap at her and nip
at her. That we gave Cookie to our friends who
lived next door, so we watched Cookie grow up, but
she didn't grow up in our house. But but a
Norwich Terrier is George's favorite dog, and I didn't know that.
(33:06):
And so we have a we have a hound dog,
and we have like a three year old docks and
still but I think I think a Norwich is in
our future. And it's time for a short break, welcome
(33:28):
back to go ask Gali. Okay, so I do want
to ask you for young entrepreneurs who are listening to this,
do you have sort of three real Sage advice for them?
Mm hmmm h besides by your book Sweet Success, which
has a lot of Sage advice packed with Sage advice.
(33:51):
So for young entrepreneurs who want to start a business,
I would say, one, find your co founder or least
that one team member that is going to have your
back that you really can trust. It's a hard road
and you need somebody who has your back when the
oven goes out, which isn't gonna be everyone's, you know, industry,
(34:12):
or when the website goes down or any of that.
But I really do believe in having a co founder
if you can. I think the support that one can
give you is is really different than even building a
strong team. Um. I think you have to make sure
that you have the money to start a business and
be really realistic about that. Whether you know you side
(34:33):
hustle it or you bootstrap it. You can go to
friends and family and get a low interest loan, you
can go to angel investors, you can crowdfund these days,
I'm mentoring a baker. Um actually you may know. Her
business is called Blondery and her name is Osrius Bellamy,
and she started as a side hustle during the pandemic,
(34:55):
this beautiful business of of blondies and desserts, and built
this wait list of people. She would do these product
drops and finally she said I'm going all in and
she has done a donation's based crowdfunding campaign and she's
opening her first commercial space, which is incredible. Um. So
there's a lot of different ways to slice the fundraising
(35:17):
piece of it, but you have to make sure you
to get really you know, entrepreneurs are like dream big people,
but you have to get really real when it comes
to the finances. So when you do when you do
a crowdfunding operation, does that mean that the people the
crowd gets a piece of the business. I mean, how
does it work? How does how does their investment come
back to them? So there's different ways. There is equity crowdfunding,
(35:41):
which does mean that you know, you're not an accredited
investor like an angel investor, but you still have a
piece of the business. But then there's also reward space.
So let's say you're building a product and you don't
have you know, you don't want people you know in
your business, but you promised them like an early prototype
or some other type of swag as a result of
(36:03):
their investment. Or then there's also like donations base, which
is essentially a go fund me campaign, which is I
really believe in you. I want to see this business
in the world, and it's not gonna happen any other way.
So here's my support via a donation. Oh that's great,
all right, And your third piece of advice. Third piece
of advice, I think is to really lean into brand.
(36:25):
I'm sorry, I'm such a brand person and we live
in such an Amazon world where it's really hard to
compete on being the cheapest or being the fastest. Right, So,
when we enter sort of uncertain economic times like we
are today, what is it that's going to make people
want to keep your product in their budget versus slashing
(36:46):
it for something cheaper. And I think these days brands
really have an opportunity and need to sort of establish
a relationship with their customers, and the way they do
that is through brand. Brand is how you live in
the hearts and minds of your customers, basically, and it
means that you have to stand for something and it
(37:06):
has to be authentic, and you have to have brand
principles and you have to deliver consistently on those um
So I think I think really digging into who you are,
what you stand for, and how you're going to consistently
show up in that way is really important these days.
And that's why you guys were so and are so
so philanthropic from the beginning, like you're that was part
(37:27):
of your brand to say, you know, hey, we're we're
the little engine that could, but we're still giving a
piece of the pie to you know, this nonprofit, which
is what sort of differentiated you from a lot of
the noise that was going on at the time, right,
which is really important I think for me. Thank you,
I appreciate that, and I think, you know, it really
(37:49):
was about we wanted to inject some joy but also
make a little bit of change and how powerful to
be able to do that with a simple cupcake. Is
there one sort of charity right now that you guys
are focused on. Is there something that you feel strongly about?
Is it women? Is it dolphins? What is it? So?
I am partnering with a Step Up Women's Foundation. I'm
partnering with them on my book, and I'm going to
(38:11):
be speaking at Step Up classrooms around the country, UM,
speaking to young women about, you know, their own journeys
to success. Um. They do an incredible job of mentoring
young women and giving them the confidence and the skills
they need to go after their dreams, which is very
aligned with what I'm trying to do. So I love
the work they're doing. Oh God, that's so great, Candice, congratulations,
(38:32):
Thank you, and we will put a link to that
organization in our show notes to thank you. Okay, now
it's time because for some reason this podcast is called
go ask Ali, but all I do is ask a question.
So now you get to ask me a question so
(38:53):
we can justify the title of this podcast. Well, I
know that you're an incredible baker, Alle and you obviously
have spoken to that, and how often you bake in
the importance it had in your family life? Um, what
is the one dessert or baked good that you are
known for? Like when people invite you over, they want
(39:13):
you to bring such and such treat or dessert. Candice,
I know it sounds a little boring, but I have
mastered the chocolate chip cookie classic for a reason. It's
Abby One's favorite. Yes and two. Okay, so this is
how far. Not only did I master it through taking
(39:34):
a recipe and adding my own little measurements to it
and changing things, but people would always ask for it.
You know, Oh, I'm coming over, Are you making cookies?
Are you making cookies? Two? Then I was giving like
eight frozen chocolate chip cookie roles for people for Christmas
(39:55):
because people asked for them. Two. I once brought one
of my besties, Mershka Hargete, a whole bunch of cookies
to the set of SPU Lawn Order. And now they
call me up and say, Okay, the crew wants cookie.
So you know, it's funny listening to you talk because
I think if I were, you know, younger and had time,
(40:17):
I would actually think about pursuing a very small business
with my talcoate chip cookies because I didn't realize how
excited people would get about it, and they really do.
I mean now it's my go to hostess gift. It's
people get mad if I don't bring cookies or give
them frozen cookie though. So that's my long answer to
(40:39):
a simple question of that answer so much. And one
of the tricks I found was that four times while
they're baking, I take out the tray and drop it
on the floor because it gives them that little ripple
effect that people like so much, and it makes them
kind of flatter and chew air. So there's a lot
of banging. I'm sure the people that live the low
(41:00):
us say part and below us are like, all, he's
making cookies. So you know, when you really hone a
talent and you find all the tricks and you perfect it, then,
first of all, I'm very proud, but even the amount
of chocolate chip cookies I make in a year is
exhausting that I couldn't actually now the ripe old age
of ninety two. I wouldn't be able to start a business.
(41:20):
It's it's a lot. It's demanding, it sure is. But
oh my gosh, you talk about a hero product. Well,
the thing I connect to with your book and everything
you're talking about is for me. The chocolate chip cookies
are a little part of me, you know. So there's
the connection with the people I find as a gift.
(41:41):
It's incredibly personal, you know, because I've made this for you.
I've wrapped it in parchment with pretty little ribbon. I
even have a sticker that says made in the Stephanopolis kitchen.
So oh yes, oh yes. So you know. The other
great thing about it is it can be anybody and
they appreciate it. It's it's not a head scratcher about
(42:04):
oh gosh, what should I give George's boss, you know
what I mean? Or what should I or even what
should I give the FedEx guy who during the snow blizzard?
You know, it's like chocolate chip cookies. Everybody likes chocolate
chip cookies, doesn't matter who you are. I don't know.
I see the next Mrs Field, No, I sure do.
I can't make sure you pass that recipe down and
(42:25):
maybe one of your entrepreneurial kids. Well, if I have
if there is a baker in the family, it's it's
my daughter Harper. So um. Anyway, Candice Nelson, you are
a delight and inspiration. I'm so happy to see you
after all this time. Um, sweet Success to me is
going to be such a great, helpful, inspiring book for
(42:48):
so many people. Everybody should go to your website Candice
dash Nelson dot com. Everything's there everything. There's blogs about
businesses and and dealing with finances to recipes too, and
it's all the pastel colors and pretty and happy. It
is a it's a fun hour and a half of exploration. Wow.
(43:11):
Well I appreciate that, Ali, Thank you. Well, this this
is this is all true, and I wish you everything great.
I'm so glad that you're thriving in this world and
giving us all cupcakes and pizza dough and inspiration and
thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you so much, Alie.
What an honor to be on your podcast. I'm such
(43:32):
a fan of yours and all the joy and humor
and empathy you give into the world. So thank you
so much. I don't know about you but I am
dying for a cupcake, so I'm just going to run
three blocks to Lexington Avenue and get six chocolate on
chocolate cupcakes from the Sprinkles. A t M. Thank you
(43:53):
for listening to Go Ask Ali. Candice's new book, Sweet Success,
a simple recipe to turn your passion into profit, is
at now. If you'd like more info on what you've
heard in this episode, just check out our show notes
and always be sure to subscribe, rate, and review Go
ask Alli, and I'd love to have you follow me
on social media on Instagram at the Real Ali Wentworth.
(44:13):
So this is obviously the last episode of the year,
so happy New Year everybody. I'll be on a short
break and I will be back with more Go ask
Alli February two. In the meantime, if you'd like to
ask me a question or suggest a guest or a
topic to dig into, I would love to hear from you,
and there's a bunch of ways you can do it.
You can call or text me at three to three
(44:35):
four six six, or you can email a voice memo
right from your phone to Go ask Alli podcast at
gmail dot com. And if you leave a question, you
just might hear it. And go ask Alli See you
next year. Go ask Alli is a production of Seawan,
(45:00):
a Land Audio and partnership with I heart Radio. For
more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, visit the i heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Go, Ask Alli, a production of Shonda Land
Audio and partnership with I Heart Radio. When I have
been with friends and that happened and I paid my pants,
I did lose the room, they did leave. I saw
her light up and I was like, I'm just going
to work, but we are here until one of our
last breaths. I was just the one that was meant
(00:22):
to take care of mamma. It's for me to remember
every single day is that I always have a choice.
Everyone always has a choice. Whenever somebody says no, you
can't or there's no rules for you, or you have
to look like this, I go. I'll show you. I'll
show you. Welcome to Go, ask Allie. I'm Alli Wentworth
(00:45):
and I have an idea for New Year's Eve. Besides
a little champagne, I thought I'd have little chocolate cupcakes
with silver balls on them. I know, very exciting, but
I'm a baker and I love to make annies and
Hello dollies and chocolate chip cookies and cakes. I mean,
there's a reason George Stephanopoulos married me, and it's not
(01:06):
because I have a great ass. Actually, on one of
our first dates, I made a turkey bolonnaise, and a
chocolate cake that had him get up on the table
and howl at the moon. So I love anything baked,
which is why I'm so excited for my guest today
because she is the pre eminent cupcake creator, Candice Nelson.
She's an entrepreneur, New York Times best selling author, and
(01:28):
Wall Street Journal contributor. Through her most recent book, Sweet Success,
Candice shares her recipe for turning passion into profit. Listen,
if you've ever visited a revolutionary Sprinkles bakery or a
Pizzana pizzeria that, my friends is Candice Nelson and you
might know or has a judge on Netflix's Sugar Rush
and Food Networks had one of my favorite shows, Cupcake Wars.
(01:51):
She's a co creator and executive producer of Who Who's
Best in Dough? Yep, Candice Nelson has it all going
on both sweet and savory. Candice Nelson. So, I'm looking
at you in a split screen on my computer and
you have perfectly wavy hair dewey makeup. So thank you
(02:14):
for looking so glamorous for us. It is my pleasure.
I am honored to be here. Well, I'm so happy
to be here. With you because I haven't seen you
in like over ten years, and the last time I
saw you, I had just stuffed a red, velvet sprinkled
cupcake in my mouth. I had started a nonprofit in Washington,
(02:35):
d c U called Baby Love, and you gave us
a big fat check, and I thank you for that. Well,
my goodness, that was a really fun event, and thank
you for including us in that, of course, and so
impressive to me because I thought, you know, here's a cupcake.
We all love to eat, whether we're pretending to watch
(02:56):
our weight or not. And you know, you were so
from the beginning so philanthropic that I just thought, what
incredible organization. And now, Candice Nelson, you are an empire.
You are not just delicious cupcakes that I gave everybody
whenever I could. But you have your book coming out,
(03:19):
you have TV shows. I mean, there's a lot to
dig into here, which I'm very excited about. But let's
let's start from the beginning, because I like to I
like to tell a story. So you're, what is it
right to say, an investment banker? That's what you started out? Yes,
I mean it real investment bankers would kind of raise
their eyebrows at that because I was just out of
(03:42):
undergrad So I was a financial analyst in corporate finance, um,
working with all the bankers. Right, okay, so we'll call
you a banker of sorts investment banking. Yes, you were
wearing your ant tailor suit and your heels, and one
day you just how didn't you know that? I just
just to guess and you decided, you know, damn it,
(04:05):
I want to bake. How did that happen? How did
that decision come to you? And why didn't I do
that when I could? I was sort of the unlikely entrepreneur.
I was raised in this family that was very risk averse.
My dad was a corporate lawyer, very loyal employee. Over time,
(04:25):
we were taught that education was the way, um, you know,
get a job at a great company and climb the
corporate ladder to success and stability. And so I was
well on my way to doing that. I started at
the investment bank as a financial analyst. Then I went
to an internet startup. It was the dot com boom
of the late nineties, and then two things happened. One,
(04:48):
the dot com bust happened, So I was out of
a job. So I had done all the quote unquote
right things, and I was completely unemployed with no prospects.
And then the next thing that happened not that long after.
It was nine eleven, and so I mean it was
just recently married. I was so excited about life and optimistic,
and then all of a sudden there was this dark
(05:08):
shadow over everything. But what it really crystallized for me
was the fact that life can be really fleeting and
there is no security and despite all your best intentions,
your best laid plan, like it can all evaporate tomorrow.
And so for me that was a really that was
an AHA moment um. You know, I've done all the
right things. I was without a job. I was now
(05:31):
questioning what I wanted to do with my life. It
was the first time I'd really asked myself that question,
like what do I want to do? What do I
want to do that brings me joy? And what do
I want to do that actually has some meaning and
gives back to the world, even if it's in a
very small way, like a piece of cake. So I
took my first step off that well trodden path, and
(05:51):
I decided to go to pastry school instead of business school.
So much more fun, by the way, so much more fun. Yeah,
and were you always a baker? I mean I've always
been a baker. I've been baking my whole life, and
I've always baked with my kids. Even now that they're teenagers,
I still forced them to bake with me. But so
it is, it is something that you either gravitate towards
(06:14):
and love to do or not. I find there's the
bakers and the non bakers. I totally agree with you.
I think there's definitely a divide, and I'm so happy
you're on my side of the divide alley. I feel
like we could start a baking gang, girl gang, you
and me, um, you know, mean girl bakers. But I
actually started baking with my mom, just like so many
(06:36):
kids do. And but it was extra meaningful for me
because I was growing up as an expat. I was
living in Southeast Asia a lot of my childhood, and
so you know, this was pre internet. This was back
when long long distance calls were expensive and they dropped,
and so really the only way for me to have
a connection to my homeland was through food, and I
(06:59):
couldn't get the foods that I craved from home, like
there were no Rice Crispy treats at the corner store
in made on Sumatra, so I had to learn to
bake them myself. And I spent hours in the kitchen
baking with my mom. We cooked from her m Joy
of Cooking cookbook, and I still remember to this day
it was like all stained and dog eared, and you
(07:19):
could tell which recipes were our favorites. And you know,
I made all the classics, like brownies and you know,
rice Crispy treats, chocsate cookies, sheet cakes. Remember Cooca Cola cake?
We may cola cake. I remember too. I remember my
mother's cookbook and my grandmother's cookbook and there would be
the old crane stationary with like notes written on it
(07:40):
shoved in. For us it was the Fannie Farmer Cookbook.
But you know, there is such a sense of history,
and you know, culturally people hand down food recipes as
kind of a way of of handing down history, and
I think that that's true for every family. There are
certain things in our family, certain dishes, um, my mother's
(08:02):
cram caramel. That's like even the smell of it reminds
me of my childhood. So I I completely get the
nostalgia for food that we grew up with. It's so visceral.
And you know those cookbooks, gosh, I hope you still
have them with the notes, you know, the cards and
just the notes right on the recipes themselves. There's those
(08:23):
are such family heirlooms. And I always encourage people who have,
you know, family members who are getting older that have
their special secret recipe to really get in the kitchen
with them and try to learn it or write it down,
because it's always so sad to me when those recipes
that are in someone's head get lost forever. Yes, except
(08:44):
for my grandmother's prune whip. That's a recipe I let
go that could be lost forever and no one was sad. No,
nobody will miss it and nobody will be sad. Well
with the name like prune went well exactly, they should
have come up with something like very wings or you know,
but no, it's prune whip and it is what it says,
and nobody wants it. It was just bad marketing. Yes,
(09:06):
so you go to pastry school and what was it
about the cupcake that stood out for you so initially?
I mean, I just loved going to pastry school. Initially,
I was going just to test my interest, because a
lot of us have I mean, look at you. You're
a baker and you love it as a hobby you
do with your family, But did you make a career
out of it. No. A lot of people have passions
(09:28):
and hobbies that aren't necessarily going to translate into a job.
So I wanted to test my interest. I wanted to
test whether I even liked getting up every single day,
you know, putting on my chef whites and getting my
hands sturdy and working with all these ingredients. It's physical work.
It was the opposite of what I had been doing,
which was crunching numbers at a desk, and I loved it.
(09:50):
I loved it. Yeah. I mean I first of all
went to this really sweet pastry school in San Francisco.
It was like there was an organic garden in the back.
There was sunlight streaming in. It was just like medicine
for my soul at that point in life, well, particularly
after nine eleven and you know all the tragedy that
came from that. I would imagine that there was a
(10:12):
little bit of sort of escapism and magic to being
at that pastry school so much. Yeah, I wanted to
live in a magical world of like chocolate and sugar
and you know, hand pies, and I love how tangible
it all was, you know, creating these delicious treats and
then being able to hand them to someone to watch
(10:33):
them enjoy it. That was so the simplicity of that
really really spoke to me. Your cup gigs had, well,
they are amazing, but at the time now, I think
we're in a little bit of a recession. When you
started this, and I would imagine there were a lot
of naysayers saying, are you out of your mind you
think that you can make a living making cupcakes, but
(10:54):
that you had to have gotten tremendous feedback when people
ate these cupcakes. That's exactly how it happened. So when
I started considering the cupcake and sort of reinventing the
cupcake and the idea of the first cupcakes only bakery
came to me. Um, I realized that San Francisco, which
(11:14):
is where my husband and I were living at the time,
was not the place because you're right, we had just
gone through the dot com bust. It was, you know,
the economy was in the doldrums, and so we figured
we had to set out for greener pastors, which ended
up being Los Angeles. And we got there and a
lot of our friends had moved down there at the time.
Spent a weekend and went to a few parties, and
(11:36):
all of the parties had the same cake. It was
very bizarre. Really, they have cake in Los Angeles. Yeah,
that was MythBuster or number one. Everyone is nobody eats
cake in Los Angeles, but they do. But they were
all eating the same cake. So I thought, Wow, I
think there's room for a little competition in this market.
(11:56):
So I started selling my cupcakes out of my home
and people were like, you're crazy. I mean, no one
in l A eats carbs. Also, by the way, it
was the height of the South Beach diet. Yeah, I
mean it was like the South Beach iet was on
the New York Times Vesselling cookbook for like twenty weeks already.
And as I drove around Los Angeles, I think coming
(12:17):
from somewhere else and being kind of an outsider to
l A was really an important part of the story
because I was able to look at l A through
fresh eyes and see that there were a whole lot
of burger joints and donut shops on every corner. So
I thought, you know what, I bet there's other people
out there just like me who might be eating the
burger without the bun, but it's because they're saving room
(12:40):
for a really great dessert. And so I started baking
cupcakes out of my kitchen, and sure enough, word spread
and I developed this real cult following, even just out
of my kitchen. So I was able to test my
thesis on a small scale. And that was just all
that was kind of all the traction I needed. That
was all the proof of concept I needed to go
for it. Okay, so what's an X step? Do you
(13:00):
rent a space? Yes, so we rented a space. We
first thought, and I say we because my husband, Charles
was my co founder and all of this and and
has been my partner through all of our businesses. Oh yeah,
we're gonna get to that. We're going to get to that. Okay, Okay,
So so we started looking for a location. But we
(13:21):
had a lot of trouble with that because, as you said,
I mean, it was a new idea cupcakes only bakery.
We were reinventing the cupcake into something gourmet. Everyone thought
it was ridiculous. Idea height of the low carb diet
all of that, and so everybody said no. But we
eventually found a spot, tiny little six hundred square foot
front and back retail kitchen in Beverly Hills and we
(13:43):
got to work transforming this little space. Everyone said, Beverly Hills, like,
that doesn't sound very scrappy. I thought you guys were
just like, you know, doing this sweet little cupcake shop.
And we said, you know what, location, location, location, And
by the way, we are reinventing the cupcake into something
special and elevated and what's more perfect than a nine
(14:03):
o two and oh zip coat exactly, And so that
was the first Sprinkles. That was the first Sprinkles. Charles
and I worked there every day. We spent a few
nights on the kitchen floor, rolling up our aprons and
going to sleep because there's no time to go home
and get any shout I before we had to come
back and turn the ovens on. It was like drinking
(14:25):
from a fire hose from day one. And what was
it in you and Charles that said, like we're going
to persevere, this is going to happen, Like what is
that little voice in your head that sort of pushed
you to success. For so many people that want to
start businesses and just go I can't. I can't sleep
on the kitchen floor. Right The litmus test for me
(14:47):
was will I regret it if I don't pursue this idea.
Creative people have ideas all the time, and I don't
recommend pursuing them all. You have to pursue the right
one at the right time. But for us, us, we
were really passionate about the idea I love to bake.
My passion fueled me. It was contagious it, you know,
(15:07):
all of a sudden, I had suppliers who are rooting
for me, employees who wanted to work with me, and
customers who wanted to spread the word. There was just
something about what we were doing that was so authentic
and genuine that it's spread like wildfire. And also it's different.
We were flying in the face of what people knew,
and and so that got people talking as well. And
(15:29):
I was gonna say, it sounds like it's I can't
not do this. You know, they're sometimes some things in
life where you go, I can't not marry this person,
I can't not pursue this goal. I can't and that
sounds like one of those things. So let's talk about
how one works with one spouse, because it is a
(15:51):
fascinating idea to me. And I have been married for
over twenty years. Um, but we've started working together in
a few things and it's actually fantastic. Dick, I think
it's fantastic. But um and I think it works well
now that we're almost empty nesters too. It's kind of
our next chapter. But you guys started out as partners,
(16:12):
So can you can you tell me a little of
the good, the bad, and the ugly about you know,
for for the people listening who think, oh, maybe me
and my partner will start a dot dot dot, most
of my friends were like, no way, hell no, um no.
For for Charles and myself. You know, what's interesting is
that we actually met in investment banking. We weren't dating
(16:34):
at the time, but we kind of were able to
see each other in a work environment already in a
very highly stressful work environment with lots and lots of hours,
and even at the time, you know, back in the day,
we were able to get by with like a great
work ethic, positive attitude, and at the end of the
day when you're miserable, just a sense of humor. And
I know that that's what you have in spades. Ali,
(16:56):
That's all I have, Candice. It's just one of many
a me and qualities. But it's so important. It's so
important because it's really all about, at the end of
the day, conflict resolution. Like you know, Charles and I
each have our lanes, which is super helpful. And we
both love what we do. So when people say don't
bring home your work, like, we break that rule all
the time because we love what we're doing. We talk
(17:17):
about it at the dinner table. We include our kids
in the conversation, which is super fun now and you
don't feel like all that time spent is too much time,
you know what I mean? Like, there's no mystery when
you're with Yeah, there is no mystery. You are completely
right about that. But I think at the end of
the day, we just really enjoy each other's company. We're
(17:37):
friends and we have fun together and um, ultimately we're
very We're aligned holistically on our life right. Family is important,
our businesses are important, and we each have each other's back.
So if someone has an important meeting or there's a
restaurant opening and you're you know, our kid is sick.
Somebody's got to be on to take our son to
the doctor. Who's it going to be um, And we're
(17:59):
eat there for each other during those moments, Like the
highs are high in entrepreneurship and the lows are really low.
So having that person by your side to like support
you and also celebrate your winds in your house, you know,
it's pretty pretty awesome. Yeah. I was gonna say that
starting a business I think with a partner is probably
(18:20):
very exciting, you know, the newness of it all. And
now you guys are an empire, so it's not like
you're you know, you're not sharing a desk all day,
like you said, you know, people are in meetings and
doing this, so it's almost like you've got two different jobs.
I would imagine. Absolutely. Now I have to, like, we
have to schedule time together. Okay, yes, okay, I got it.
(18:42):
We're not tripping over each other anymore. We were in
the early days, for sure, But but the early days
there is something very exciting about that too. Starting something
new so exciting, And I have to say, you know,
I'm almost embarrassed to say it now, but at the
time I'm not sure I had the confidence um to
start a business on my own. Understand that I didn't.
I didn't come from that world. I didn't know what
(19:03):
I was doing. I mean, not that Charles knew what
he was doing. His only restaurant experience was basically eating
in one right, But just to have his support and
know that, like I had someone who was right there
by my side who believed in me, was really important.
There's a lot more to come after the short break
(19:31):
and we're back. So Sprinkles just became this unbelievable phenomenon.
And so then comes the genius idea of the A
T M. Cupcake. Now, first of all, explain that concept,
because you know you were making fresh cupcakes every day,
(19:54):
So explain the concept of an A T M cupcake machine,
of which I have frequented many times. So okay, So
when we first opened our doors, our idea quickly went
from that's the stupid craziest idea I've ever heard of,
to all of a sudden, it was phenomenon. We were
known for lines out the door, and there were cupcake
(20:14):
bakeries popping up everywhere across the air cut. By the way,
in France, there was a cupcake bakery in Paris, which
I was like, the French don't need cupcakes, they have
all that other great stuff exactly. And so you know,
all of a sudden we were looking around and we
thought we gotta move the needle again. I mean, we
(20:34):
got to differentiate ourselves somehow. Um, all of a sudden,
we're one in a crowded pack, like, what is Sprinkles
going to do next? Because we really thought of ourselves
as innovators at the end of the day, you know,
we were bringing this sort of um innovators perspective to
the bakery industry. There were so many things that we
sort of disrupted about it, and um, so we thought, Okay,
(20:56):
we gotta disrupt again. We gotta be innovators again. And
our real guiding mission and why we Sprinkles was really
just to bring joy and delight in connection to people.
And so I think we were always trying to entertain
these ideas of what's going to delight people, what's going
to sort of, you know, tickle their imagination. I came
(21:17):
home from a party one night late. I was pregnant
with my second son. I had literally eaten dark chocolate
cupcakes through both of my pregnancies. It was gross. It
was so there were so many cupcakes involved, and I
had a craving for a cupcake. There were none in
the house. I started to get a little whiny about it.
And because Charles and I like to embrace what I
(21:38):
call the crazy ideas, we started batting around the idea
of like, what if there was a way to get
a cupcake anytime day or night. And then we were like, actually,
we pay rent twenty four hours a day, like there
really should be a way to do that and monetize.
So that's when we came up with the idea of
like the twenty four hour vending machine. That was ultimately
dubbed the cupcake a dam And so I would have
(22:01):
to imagine when you and Charles are sitting there, you know,
eating leftovers in the kitchen, and you're burping because you're pregnant,
and you said, what about an A T M cupcake machine?
You guys probably were hysterically laughing for a while, right,
Oh yeah, I mean the logistics alone, well, we had
(22:21):
seen sort of a very high end, fancy vending machine
at some hotel, and you know, so that that had
kind of wormed its way into our subconscious and so
we were kind of thinking about, well, what if you
did that, but you put put cupcakes. And so we
looked around the next day UM online just to see
if we could find the company who had created that
(22:43):
high end vending machine. They were based in Europe and
we co developed this cupcake vending machine with them. So
I want to understand how the machine works quickly. So
the cupcakes are there, and are they stalked every day?
Every hour? Like? Does that work? A couple of times
a day? They're fresh, they're in individual boxes, and it's
(23:05):
anytime day or night. And we used to have actually
like a cupcake cam out there back in the day
and we could see, like at three in the morning
all the people rubber machine. It was pretty fun. Yeah,
I'm sure all the women with pms and all the
drunk frat boys must have loved that idea, UM because
(23:27):
when you know, a pedestrian like myself thought about the
cupcake a t M. I thought, how does that work?
How are they fresh, where are they coming from, who's
behind the curtain? All those kinds of things, Because that's
that's what would sort of block me from pursuing that
as an actual reality, I would just say, well, how
could you possibly dot dot dot right? And there you
(23:50):
did it right? And so I think that's the cruxt entrepreneurship,
really right. It's pushing past that initial obstacle of m hmm,
that's probably gonna be hard, or that's impossible, or nobody
has done that before two leaning into I bet we
could figure it out, or what would that look like,
(24:11):
or let's talk about it a little more, let's explore it,
you know. And So this idea of just sort of
you know, what if thinking and leaning into that, I
think is what's so fun for me about entrepreneurship and
what I encourage other people to sort of take away
from my journey. I would say, what if is a
big part of your plan? Like what if to me
(24:31):
is because because now I'm going to ask you about
the pizza dough, because I now I'm understanding that at home,
you and Charles are sitting around going, Okay, what's next,
what's next? What if we did what? You know, we
love pizza, So tell me about pizza. You could have
gone to another pastry, could have gone to another pastry,
(24:51):
but listen, it's dough, but it's savory dough. Yes, but
this was a situation where I encountered another incredibly passionate chef,
Um Charles, and they were at a pizza party. We
love pizza, who doesn't. I love anything carb related, anything
you can pick up with your hands and enjoy. And
(25:12):
took one bite to this pizza, said to myself, wow,
who made this? And you know, sought out Danielle Uditi,
who's are now head chef of Pizzana. He proceeded to
tell me that he had just come from Naples, Italy
with two hundred dollars in his pocket and his nana's
like sour dough starter. He had smuggled it into the
States and luckily had not been cough by customs because
(25:33):
that is the basis of all our Pizzana dough. It
has literally a piece of his family history. And everybody wow.
So again people thought it was a dumb idea. L
A is not known for good pizza, you know, as
a New Yorker alley like l A pizza was like
a laughing stock. Yes, but listen, I lived in l
A for thirteen years and it used to drive me
(25:56):
insane that I couldn't get a good slice of pizza
in Los Angeles. Yes, it was the first thing I
ate in New York, right, and I'm so happy that
that has changed. And really there's been quite an explosion
of pizza in El A recently, and it's really exciting,
all kinds of pizza, and the pizza we call neo
Neapolitan because true Neapolitan, you know, it's kind of soupy
(26:16):
in the middle. You need a fork and knife. But
this has that great shoe and char that Neapolitan do does.
But you can pick it up and it holds. Because
we Americans we like to eat with our hands. I
don't know why, but we do. We're casual. We're very casual.
We're a little we're a little backed up on the
evolution track. We just started being homo erectus, and we
(26:38):
do still eat with their hands. Um. You know, your
next venture should be bagels, if you can create a
delicious bagel in Los Angeles. That was the other thing
I really missed living there. Okay, I'll get right on it. Um. So,
so you have Pizzaana, And now tell me a little
bit about best in Dough, which is such a great Yes.
So you know, I was really fortunate early on in
(27:01):
the Sprinkles days to have a producer come into the
shop and basically say will you be on a Food
Network show? I literally had a baseball hat on, powdered
sugar all over my face and I was like me,
you know, kind of looking around like you can't possibly
mean me. So no, what's called cupcake Wars? We need
the Queen of cupcakes. And I was like, okay, I
guess you're talking to me. And so you were there
from the beginning, right from the beginning, film over a
(27:23):
hundred episodes. Super fun and also really important to the
our brand, our national brand, right that everyone could tune
into the Food Network and see the founder of Sprinkles
Cupcakes as the pre eminent cupcake judge. I have to
tell you we we used to play cupcake Wars at home.
So when my girls had friends over, they played cupcake Wars,
(27:45):
and so George and I would tell them, you know,
the ingredients bacon, maple syrup and whatever, and they'd have
to go make these cupcakes, which I did not work
out so well, Candice, but it was it was like
a really one thing. It was a funny, crafty thing
to do at home, especially on a rainy day. And
you know, Cupcake Wars was like the most fun to watch,
(28:09):
so it was it was a fun show, really ended
up being a hit show. I wish you had been
a guest judge that would that would have been so fun.
I should have called you and said I want to come. Seriously,
that would have been really fun. And again, now there's
eight million shows like that, Like I feel like everything
you do there's like this ripple effect. Well that's very
(28:29):
kind of you. So what's happening with bestin Dough? So
with beston Doe? Here, I have this incredible chef founder partner,
Dan Yelli, and he has this great personality. People love him.
He's like this jolly Italian chat who makes the best pizza?
And I thought you need a show, by the way,
particularly in this divisive world that we live in, right
(28:50):
one are the few things we can all agree on.
I mean cupcakes was one, but pi'sa really like he says,
one of those foods that brings people together. And there's
pizza and basically every culture in the world. And so um,
Danielie has a competition show. It's called Best in Dough
and it's a super fun family show, feel good show,
(29:10):
which I think we could all use right now. And
I'm just excited to watch his his star shine. And
you also have your book coming out, Sweet Success, do
I do so? Sweet Success is shining a light and
finally telling the story of how I built Sprinkles, and um,
it came about very organically in that I've been mentoring
(29:31):
and investing in female and diverse founders since we sold
the majority of Sprinkles, and I really wanted to you know,
mentor people on a larger scale and and sort of
break down the barriers to entrepreneurship, invite more people to
the table, demystify entrepreneurship through this book, because you know
(29:51):
what do we see on TV and media as men
building rocketships to the moon? That that's sort of what
we're all supposed to think of entrepreneurs as text of
once engineers. Um, you know, companies are billion dollar unicorn valuations.
But really, at the end of the day, I think
entrepreneurship is for all, right, Like I built a big
business out of a simple little cupcake, something that anyone
(30:13):
can make. Yes, so tell me this too, because and
I think this is why I love the book Sweet
Success so much, is that even if you're thinking about
starting a small business. You really take people through your
experience with Sprinkles, and because of it, now you're an
angel investor, aren't you? Yes, and explain what an angel
(30:36):
investor is to our listeners. Sure. Basically, Um, you are
investing in early stage startups, UM in checks that are
smaller that than like a venture capital fund would invest in.
And you also bring your expertise, your network, um, your
amplification to the table and just you know, really try
(30:59):
to cheer lead and help these new founders find success. Um,
I have to ask you, why do you have Norwich Terriers?
What is specific about that breed? Do you like? How,
in my very short bio that doesn't even give very
much information, I happen to mention that my dog is
(31:19):
a Norwich Terrier, and I believe me, I'm a dog person,
so I immediately picked that up and we once we
once had a Norwich Terrier. That's why I'm asking you.
Did Yeah, okay, well I need to I know what
I'm going to ask you. Why do you not still
have a norch heir? No? So I love Norwich Terriers
and this is how I discovered them. I used to
run along chrissy Field in San Francisco when I lived
(31:40):
there on the weekends, or actually usually just on Sundays
because I worked in investment banking and that was the
only time you'd ever have off. So I do my
one run for for the week down chrissy Field and
on Sundays at the same time, there would be this
gathering of Norwich Terrier owners and so those are so snobby.
He was running down the path. They were like just
(32:03):
like packs of these little hedgehog style dogs, like the
cutest things I've ever seen. I was like, are they
prairie dogs? Like what type of creature is this? And
these stubby legs and they're kind of stout, and they've
got this like wiry hair and these prick ears and
then oh my god, their personality is so good. So
I'm on my second Orange Terrier. First was Honey. Now
(32:24):
is Willie, which means his name is Willie Nelson. Yes,
it does um and he's just adorable. What is your
breed of choice? Well, so here's the problem with We
had a Norwich Terrier named Cookie, and what happened was
we had two nasty docksins and when we brought Cookie home,
(32:46):
they were so mean to Cookie. We we tried everything.
They were just they would yap at her and nip
at her. That we gave Cookie to our friends who
lived next door, so we watched Cookie grow up, but
she didn't grow up in our house. But but a
Norwich Terrier is George's favorite dog, and I didn't know that.
(33:06):
And so we have a we have a hound dog,
and we have like a three year old docks and
still but I think I think a Norwich is in
our future. And it's time for a short break, welcome
(33:28):
back to go ask Gali. Okay, so I do want
to ask you for young entrepreneurs who are listening to this,
do you have sort of three real Sage advice for them?
Mm hmmm h besides by your book Sweet Success, which
has a lot of Sage advice packed with Sage advice.
(33:51):
So for young entrepreneurs who want to start a business,
I would say, one, find your co founder or least
that one team member that is going to have your
back that you really can trust. It's a hard road
and you need somebody who has your back when the
oven goes out, which isn't gonna be everyone's, you know, industry,
(34:12):
or when the website goes down or any of that.
But I really do believe in having a co founder
if you can. I think the support that one can
give you is is really different than even building a
strong team. Um. I think you have to make sure
that you have the money to start a business and
be really realistic about that. Whether you know you side
(34:33):
hustle it or you bootstrap it. You can go to
friends and family and get a low interest loan, you
can go to angel investors, you can crowdfund these days,
I'm mentoring a baker. Um actually you may know. Her
business is called Blondery and her name is Osrius Bellamy,
and she started as a side hustle during the pandemic,
(34:55):
this beautiful business of of blondies and desserts, and built
this wait list of people. She would do these product
drops and finally she said I'm going all in and
she has done a donation's based crowdfunding campaign and she's
opening her first commercial space, which is incredible. Um. So
there's a lot of different ways to slice the fundraising
(35:17):
piece of it, but you have to make sure you
to get really you know, entrepreneurs are like dream big people,
but you have to get really real when it comes
to the finances. So when you do when you do
a crowdfunding operation, does that mean that the people the
crowd gets a piece of the business. I mean, how
does it work? How does how does their investment come
back to them? So there's different ways. There is equity crowdfunding,
(35:41):
which does mean that you know, you're not an accredited
investor like an angel investor, but you still have a
piece of the business. But then there's also reward space.
So let's say you're building a product and you don't
have you know, you don't want people you know in
your business, but you promised them like an early prototype
or some other type of swag as a result of
(36:03):
their investment. Or then there's also like donations base, which
is essentially a go fund me campaign, which is I
really believe in you. I want to see this business
in the world, and it's not gonna happen any other way.
So here's my support via a donation. Oh that's great,
all right, And your third piece of advice. Third piece
of advice, I think is to really lean into brand.
(36:25):
I'm sorry, I'm such a brand person and we live
in such an Amazon world where it's really hard to
compete on being the cheapest or being the fastest. Right, So,
when we enter sort of uncertain economic times like we
are today, what is it that's going to make people
want to keep your product in their budget versus slashing
(36:46):
it for something cheaper. And I think these days brands
really have an opportunity and need to sort of establish
a relationship with their customers, and the way they do
that is through brand. Brand is how you live in
the hearts and minds of your customers, basically, and it
means that you have to stand for something and it
(37:06):
has to be authentic, and you have to have brand
principles and you have to deliver consistently on those um
So I think I think really digging into who you are,
what you stand for, and how you're going to consistently
show up in that way is really important these days.
And that's why you guys were so and are so
so philanthropic from the beginning, like you're that was part
(37:27):
of your brand to say, you know, hey, we're we're
the little engine that could, but we're still giving a
piece of the pie to you know, this nonprofit, which
is what sort of differentiated you from a lot of
the noise that was going on at the time, right,
which is really important I think for me. Thank you,
I appreciate that, and I think, you know, it really
(37:49):
was about we wanted to inject some joy but also
make a little bit of change and how powerful to
be able to do that with a simple cupcake. Is
there one sort of charity right now that you guys
are focused on. Is there something that you feel strongly about?
Is it women? Is it dolphins? What is it? So?
I am partnering with a Step Up Women's Foundation. I'm
partnering with them on my book, and I'm going to
(38:11):
be speaking at Step Up classrooms around the country, UM,
speaking to young women about, you know, their own journeys
to success. Um. They do an incredible job of mentoring
young women and giving them the confidence and the skills
they need to go after their dreams, which is very
aligned with what I'm trying to do. So I love
the work they're doing. Oh God, that's so great, Candice, congratulations,
(38:32):
Thank you, and we will put a link to that
organization in our show notes to thank you. Okay, now
it's time because for some reason this podcast is called
go ask Ali, but all I do is ask a question.
So now you get to ask me a question so
(38:53):
we can justify the title of this podcast. Well, I
know that you're an incredible baker, Alle and you obviously
have spoken to that, and how often you bake in
the importance it had in your family life? Um, what
is the one dessert or baked good that you are
known for? Like when people invite you over, they want
(39:13):
you to bring such and such treat or dessert. Candice,
I know it sounds a little boring, but I have
mastered the chocolate chip cookie classic for a reason. It's
Abby One's favorite. Yes and two. Okay, so this is
how far. Not only did I master it through taking
(39:34):
a recipe and adding my own little measurements to it
and changing things, but people would always ask for it.
You know, Oh, I'm coming over, Are you making cookies?
Are you making cookies? Two? Then I was giving like
eight frozen chocolate chip cookie roles for people for Christmas
(39:55):
because people asked for them. Two. I once brought one
of my besties, Mershka Hargete, a whole bunch of cookies
to the set of SPU Lawn Order. And now they
call me up and say, Okay, the crew wants cookie.
So you know, it's funny listening to you talk because
I think if I were, you know, younger and had time,
(40:17):
I would actually think about pursuing a very small business
with my talcoate chip cookies because I didn't realize how
excited people would get about it, and they really do.
I mean now it's my go to hostess gift. It's
people get mad if I don't bring cookies or give
them frozen cookie though. So that's my long answer to
(40:39):
a simple question of that answer so much. And one
of the tricks I found was that four times while
they're baking, I take out the tray and drop it
on the floor because it gives them that little ripple
effect that people like so much, and it makes them
kind of flatter and chew air. So there's a lot
of banging. I'm sure the people that live the low
(41:00):
us say part and below us are like, all, he's
making cookies. So you know, when you really hone a
talent and you find all the tricks and you perfect it, then,
first of all, I'm very proud, but even the amount
of chocolate chip cookies I make in a year is
exhausting that I couldn't actually now the ripe old age
of ninety two. I wouldn't be able to start a business.
(41:20):
It's it's a lot. It's demanding, it sure is. But
oh my gosh, you talk about a hero product. Well,
the thing I connect to with your book and everything
you're talking about is for me. The chocolate chip cookies
are a little part of me, you know. So there's
the connection with the people I find as a gift.
(41:41):
It's incredibly personal, you know, because I've made this for you.
I've wrapped it in parchment with pretty little ribbon. I
even have a sticker that says made in the Stephanopolis kitchen.
So oh yes, oh yes. So you know. The other
great thing about it is it can be anybody and
they appreciate it. It's it's not a head scratcher about
(42:04):
oh gosh, what should I give George's boss, you know
what I mean? Or what should I or even what
should I give the FedEx guy who during the snow blizzard?
You know, it's like chocolate chip cookies. Everybody likes chocolate
chip cookies, doesn't matter who you are. I don't know.
I see the next Mrs Field, No, I sure do.
I can't make sure you pass that recipe down and
(42:25):
maybe one of your entrepreneurial kids. Well, if I have
if there is a baker in the family, it's it's
my daughter Harper. So um. Anyway, Candice Nelson, you are
a delight and inspiration. I'm so happy to see you
after all this time. Um, sweet Success to me is
going to be such a great, helpful, inspiring book for
(42:48):
so many people. Everybody should go to your website Candice
dash Nelson dot com. Everything's there everything. There's blogs about
businesses and and dealing with finances to recipes too, and
it's all the pastel colors and pretty and happy. It
is a it's a fun hour and a half of exploration. Wow.
(43:11):
Well I appreciate that, Ali, Thank you. Well, this this
is this is all true, and I wish you everything great.
I'm so glad that you're thriving in this world and
giving us all cupcakes and pizza dough and inspiration and
thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you so much, Alie.
What an honor to be on your podcast. I'm such
(43:32):
a fan of yours and all the joy and humor
and empathy you give into the world. So thank you
so much. I don't know about you but I am
dying for a cupcake, so I'm just going to run
three blocks to Lexington Avenue and get six chocolate on
chocolate cupcakes from the Sprinkles. A t M. Thank you
(43:53):
for listening to Go Ask Ali. Candice's new book, Sweet Success,
a simple recipe to turn your passion into profit, is
at now. If you'd like more info on what you've
heard in this episode, just check out our show notes
and always be sure to subscribe, rate, and review Go
ask Alli, and I'd love to have you follow me
on social media on Instagram at the Real Ali Wentworth.
(44:13):
So this is obviously the last episode of the year,
so happy New Year everybody. I'll be on a short
break and I will be back with more Go ask
Alli February two. In the meantime, if you'd like to
ask me a question or suggest a guest or a
topic to dig into, I would love to hear from you,
and there's a bunch of ways you can do it.
You can call or text me at three to three
(44:35):
four six six, or you can email a voice memo
right from your phone to Go ask Alli podcast at
gmail dot com. And if you leave a question, you
just might hear it. And go ask Alli See you
next year. Go ask Alli is a production of Seawan,
(45:00):
a Land Audio and partnership with I heart Radio. For
more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, visit the i heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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