A Richmond entrepreneur is working the life of a five-to-nine after her nine-to-five to pursue her baking passion.
Agnes Wong owns Buttercrumbs, an online butter “cloud” cookie shop, which she operates from 5 to 9 p.m. after her 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. full-time job as a project manager in the health industry.
This means waking up around 4 or 5 a.m. for morning production and packing and distributing orders before heading to her day job. After work, she returns to the kitchen to do more baking and prepare orders until 8 or 9 p.m.
She told the Richmond News her style of butter cookies was inspired by Hong Kong’s famous Jenny Bakery's butter cookies that she hasn’t seen in Vancouver yet.
“These melt-in-your-mouth butter cookies are very labour intensive because everything is hand piped,” explained Wong, adding it may be the reason there is no special market in Vancouver.
“These cookies mean even more to me because it draws from my cultural background, a reminder of Hong Kong.”
When asked how she started her entrepreneurial journey, Wong said it started during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown when she decided to upgrade her baking skills -- an interest she's had since she was young.
“I was always that friend who was always baking. I’d bake for holidays and throughout the pandemic,” said Wong.
Encouraged by her friends to start selling them online as a side hustle, she launched her business on Facebook and Instagram last June.
From there, Wong began building up her brand. But with business growing, she was finding it difficult to keep up with the demand working from her kitchen.
Wong then decided to make the jump and officially moved into a commercial kitchen in December.
Passion to community connection
Being an entrepreneur is not easy, but shifting to a bigger space has allowed Wong build more connections in the small business industry.
“As an entrepreneur, there’s no one to really ask for help. It can be a very lonely journey … because not everyone will understand what it’s like starting a small business,” she said.
Moving into a commissary kitchen, a shared space, has connected Wong to other entrepreneurs and those in the food and beverage industry.
“We share connections and tips and I definitely wouldn’t have been able to get to this speed if it wasn’t for moving into that space and meeting these people.”
Sharing a space can, however, be overwhelming for a start-up business owner who is used to baking on her own.
Wong said her regular flow of operations at home had to be readjusted after moving into the shared kitchen.
“It’s like you know where everything is at home, but once you move into a new space it (takes) a little bit of time getting used to.”
Working in the commissary kitchen has allowed her to increase production seven-fold compared to working at home.
“I’ve also learned to ask people for help. It’s not that I don’t trust others, but I’ve been working alone for a while and I want everything to be perfect and serve people. It’s a customer experience.”
Since the summer, Wong has hosted pop-up shops around Metro Vancouver, collaborated with local cafes like Richmond’s Paragon Team Room and even hosted a cooking class at Gourmet Warehouse.
“This is a journey I never thought I would be on, and I hope what I do can make an impact on others and inspire others to follow their dreams too.”
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