Melissa Ben-Ishay's “love language” has always been bread. So when she was fired from it advertisements job at the age of 24, following it passion in business it seemed like an ideal opportunity. Her brother Brian Bushell encouraged him to catch it. “We ended up creating an incredible product that makes people happy in good times and bad,” says Ben-Ishay.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Baked By Melissa. Co-founder and CEO Melissa Ben-Ishay.
Ben-Ishay launched the mini cupcake brand with co-founders Brian Bushell, Matt Baer, Danny Omari and Ben Zion in 2008.
The company, which just celebrated its “Sweet 16,” has grown a lot over the years, becoming a multimillion dollar business with nationwide shipping and 13 retail locations in the New York and Boston area.
Baked By Melissa has sold more than 350 million cupcakes, built an online community of 3.8 million followers, and expanded into new categories, partnering with major brands like Oatly and Entenmann's along the way.
Ben-Ishay has also evolved as an entrepreneur and leader in the past decade plus. She stepped into the role of CEO in 2019, just before the pandemic, and rose to viral TikTok fame in 2021 thanks to her Green Goddess Salad recipe. Her cookbook Come hungry was published earlier this year and became a New York Times bestseller.
The driving force behind her success, according to Ben-Ishay? Her ability to understand what she doesn't know – and to turn to people who do.
“I like to be wrong,” says Ben-Ishay. “I don't think I know everything. In fact, the older I get and the more experience I have under my belt, the less I know. And that's something I know for sure. And I think it's a very important. mentality for a leader and an entrepreneur”.
Image Credit: Courtesy of Baked By Melissa
said Ben-Ishay entrepreneur about some key times when this mindset served Baked By Melissa on its way to success.
Relying on human capital in the early days of business
At first, Ben-Ishay assembled cupcakes in the kitchen of her New York City apartment and delivered them by subway. cold calling food companies to help spread the word. By the following year, she had opened Baked By Melissa's first retail location, a small takeout window in Manhattan's Soho neighborhood.
In those early days, all of Baked By Melissa's revenue went right back into the business. The company received no outside funding and remains privately owned today. Ben-Ishay's co-founders each brought a unique, complementary skill set to the table and contributed invaluable human capitalshe says.
According to Ben-Ishay, her brother Bushell “is a born entrepreneur” who recognized Baked By Melissa's potential even before she did and served as the company's CEO for eight years.
Baer created and designed all visual aspects of the brand in its early years, and Omari's Cafe Bari housed Baked By Melissa's first commercial kitchen and retail location at the corner of Spring Street and Broadway.
Furthermore, Zion “is an incredible network and was able to take our sweets to every movie premiere, nightclub, red carpet event and celebrity green room you can think of,” Ben-Ishay recalls.
Stepping somewhat reluctantly into the role of CEO
Ben-Ishay did not assume this CEO, position until December 2019, more than a decade after the launch of Baked By Melissa. “I didn't think I wanted to be a CEO,” she admits. “I didn't plan to be CEO. There were circumstances that led to my board appointing me CEO at some point.”
At first, Ben-Ishay was “terrified” to take the helm, especially as the company was headed for the busy country. the holiday season. However, she also recognized the incredible opportunity. Ben-Ishay rose to the challenge – and it paid off.
“We went on to break our holiday sales records that month,” Ben-Ishay recalls. “Two months later, we broke sales records again with our busiest holiday, Valentine's Day. In the immediate aftermath, I led our team through a global pandemic (while working from home with two small children) and we on the other side stronger than ever.”
The experience taught Ben-Ishay the importance of self-advocacy and continuing to do so big goals.
“You might think it's just a dream and not possible – but I bet it is possible,” says Ben-Ishay. “I learned that we should do the things that scare us the most. I've always believed in treating every challenge as an opportunity. The role of CEO felt outside of my role until now. comfort zonebut at the end of the day, I learned and grew so much.”
Image Credit: Courtesy of Baked By Melissa
Going viral on TikTok with the Green Goddess Salad
Just a few years after Ben-Ishay became the company's CEO, she took on another influential role: social media content creator. “I love social media,” says Ben-Ishay. “I'm very inspired by it and I understand the tool it can be for a business.”
According to Ben-Ishay, Baked By Melissa “missed the boat a little bit” when it came to it Instagram. The company started before the social media platform existed and didn't immediately capitalize on it. “It took me a year or so to realize the opportunity,” Ben-Ishay explains, “and I made a silent promise to myself that the next time a social media channel came up, I would learn it and use it immediately.”
In 2020, TikTok gave her a chance to do just that. Although Ben-Ishay recognized the potential of the platform, she found it difficult to provide members of the Baked By Melissa creative team with action reactions on the content they produced. That's when Ben-Ishay started experimenting with TikTok herself – recording herself making cakes or dinner for her family.
“One day on a whim, I posted a salad and it went viral (with) millions and millions of views,” says Ben-Ishay. “And I immediately understood the opportunity for my business, which was build a community of people coming to us for something. Even if it doesn't show the product we sell directly, the relationship and connection I can have with so many people is something money can't buy.”
Image Credit: Courtesy of Baked By Melissa
As she considers the next 16 years of Baked By Melissa and beyond, Ben-Ishay is excited to continue leading the company growth.
“We have a lot of options,” she says. “We have a product that makes people happy in good times and bad, and we can deliver it perfectly to you at the highest quality, no matter where you are in the United States of America. I think that we have so many opportunities to do this on a larger scale.”
This article is part of our ongoing Women Entrepreneur® series highlighting the stories, challenges and triumphs of running a business as a woman.