Baking Up Business Success: How Personal Touches Can Elevate Your Brand

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios, it’s time for Women in Motion. Brought to you by WBEC West. Join forces. Succeed together. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of Women in Motion. And this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, WBEC West. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. Today on Women in Motion, we have Daphne Subar, and she is the founder and CEO with Subarzsweets. Welcome.

Daphne Subar: Thank you. I’m excited to be here.

Lee Kantor: Well, I’m excited to learn what you’re up to. Tell us about your company. How are you serving folks?

Daphne Subar: So, I launched Subarzsweets almost nine years ago, and it started as a bakery because I had a baked good that I had been baking for years. Prior to launching the company, I was actually an attorney practicing law for about 26 years. And during that time, I had my three daughters, and I was raising them, and I loved to bake different treats for them, and people had suggested that maybe I should start a bakery one day. And I always came up with excuses.

And then about nine years ago, one of my daughters said to me, “You keep coming up with these excuses, but you always tell us to follow your passion, and you love baking. Why aren’t you following your passion?” And that’s really kind of how Subarzsweets was launched. And as I said, it was originally a bakery because I had created a unique baked good to share with the world.

It was about a year or two after I was in business that I looked back and realized that Subarzsweets, most people were placing orders and sending our items as gifts. They’re beautifully packaged, they ship easily anywhere in the country, and they’re always accompanied by a handwritten note. And when I looked back at it, I realized it’s really much more than a bakery. It’s really become a gift-giving business and a gift-giving service. And that’s really kind of where it exploded and took off. And that’s really where our growth has been for the last several years.

Lee Kantor: So, what was this unique baked good you were selling at the start?

Daphne Subar: So, the baked good has stayed the same. So, it’s basically something we created. It’s a combination of a biscotti, a mandel bread and a cookie. It looks like a biscotti. It’s crunchy but not quite as hard as biscotti. And it’s a little bit sweeter. So, we started with one product. It was a traditional chocolate chip bars that was based on a chocolate chip mandel bread recipe that I had developed for years and changed other recipes that were out there to accommodate my children’s food allergies. Then, once we launched, we decided that product was so popular, we kept the same product, the same Subarz, but we just had a lot of fun with flavors. So, now, we have over 21 flavors. It ranges from the traditional chocolate chip, to a lavender, to a matcha to a chocolate peppermint. And then, we also have a gluten-free line that has about eight different products. But they’re all the same Subarz, just had a lot of fun with the flavors.

Lee Kantor: Is the shape the same?

Daphne Subar: Everything’s the same, which actually worked out well because once we created them, we came up with these beautiful pink branded boxes. So, we can basically use the same box and just substitute in the different flavors.

Lee Kantor: And then, when you decided to kind of lean into the gift giving, that doesn’t sound like that dramatic of a shift, because you were already, I guess, instinctively making it look beautiful. Like that was… so, it just kind of you just did more of that and just maybe started talking to different types of customers.

Daphne Subar: Exactly. It’s really more the latter. I didn’t change. What I did is I looked at who was buying my product and why. And when I realized it was mostly probably 95% were gifts, they shipped very easily nationwide, and they would require no refrigeration. So, I didn’t really change much on the backend. What I changed was who we marketed to and how we promoted our product and our service.

Lee Kantor: So, at the start, how did you kind of just decide to make it super nice? Like, that was just your brand? Like that was your instincts initially where, “Look, we’re going to do this, and we’re going to just kind of jazz hands this up, so everybody who gets, it’ll be super special”?

Daphne Subar: Basically, yeah. And honestly, a lot of it was luck. Like I found a box that fit the product I had created. The box happened to be beautiful. It happened to be pink, which is the color I wanted the brand, and that was the color of our logo. And it kind of took off from there. In the beginning, when we were very small, I would handwrite notes for people if they were sending a gift to give it a personal touch. I didn’t realize until later that was a big selling point for my business, and we’ve kept the handwritten notes even as we’ve expanded. So, we started small and simple, and didn’t realize that some of those very personal touches were really what was going to make us unique and make us stand out among our competitors.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you were getting larger and larger, were you tempted to maybe cut back on some of that personalization just because of the scale of doing it that many times and still being personal, or was this something you’re like, “No, this is part of our brand. Now we have to do this”?

Daphne Subar: Well, it’s funny because people have asked me so many times about why we still handwrite our notes versus buying one of those fancy programs that will look almost like it’s handwritten, unless you kind of know. And we have really stuck with that. We still have our products hand packed. Each one is individually placed within a doily, so, it has this very old-fashioned look. And we have kept the handwritten notes. We have not changed any of that. Although every couple of years, someone in like a business meeting or something with fellow business owners will suggest that we get rid of some of those personal touches, but I think it’s really what has made our brand unique. So, we’re not changing any of that.

Lee Kantor: No, I think that’s super important to have that kind of that true north, and this is our brand, this is how we do things, and we’re not going to kind of skimp here, even though maybe the accountant says, “You know how much money you could save by skimping here.” It just you you’re giving up too much of the personality and the why behind what you’re doing.

Daphne Subar: Exactly, exactly. And I have to say, especially post-pandemic, the world has become much more impersonal. So many things, even this recording. I mean, ten years ago, we probably would have met in person to record this, where, now, doing it over Zoom. Meetings are held over Zoom. So many things have moved in an impersonal direction. And sending our treats to someone with a handwritten note, beautifully packaged, tied up in a ribbon, delivered to their door, that’s a way to reconnect with people and kind of make that relationship a little bit more personal. So, it’s more important now than ever. So, yeah, we are definitely keeping that and not planning on changing any of that just because everyone needs this personal touch, and there’s not a lot of ways to send very personal and meaningful gifts anymore.

Lee Kantor: And is that kind of the conversations you’re having with the buyers of these gifts that that’s what they’re getting when they’re getting the Subarzsweets from you is they’re getting that level of personalization? And I would imagine clients are hungry for that as well, that they also want to be the ones that are giving personal attention to the people important to them.

Daphne Subar: Exactly, exactly. That comes up quite a bit in our discussions. And as I mentioned earlier, I was a lawyer for 26 years before launching Subarzsweets. As a lawyer, I got a fair share of gifts from clients and other attorneys, and they would always come, not always, most of the gifts would come between December 25th and December… I mean December 15th and December 25th. And many of those gifts, while they were well intentioned, were just not appreciated. It was the same foil-wrapped pairs or box of chocolate I would get from several people. You’d get so many gifts during that short period of time that even though people meant well, it just didn’t convey… that message, wasn’t really conveyed. And sadly, a lot of them were wasted.

And we really want to change that with our gifting. We work with our clients directly. We come up with a gifting plan. We’ve learned that, really, if you want your gift to stand out for the intention that you have behind it, have that appear to the recipient, you don’t necessarily need to gift on December 15th. Gift in the spring, gift for a birthday, gift for a closing of a contract or closing of a deal, there’s so many other ways to gift and show the recipient that, really, there’s meaning behind this gift. It’s not just an obligatory holiday gift. This is a gift that someone intentionally wanted to send to you for a personal reason.

So yes, we talk to our clients on that. We look at their businesses, we figure out what’s the best way for them to gift, and we basically come up with a gifting plan. And then, what we do is because everyone’s busy and people don’t have a gifting coordinator or a director of gifting, we’ll come up with a plan, let’s say, for the year where we will make sure that every week, whoever has birthdays that week in your company will get a gift with a personalized note that you send, you tell us what to do, or something like that. Or once a month, we’ll send to individuals who happen to be working on this project. We come up with a very personalized program, and that’s really been very successful.

Lee Kantor: Now, any tips for kind of maybe the smaller firms that can’t afford a gifting coordinator on their team, but like what-

Daphne Subar: Right.

Lee Kantor: What would be some of kind of the do’s and don’ts? If you had a small business, and you were just wanting to share appreciation with your team and your clients, what’s kind of a simple gifting strategy for folks?

Daphne Subar: I think a simple gifting strategy is actually to keep it simple, make it sincere, make it intentional, and make it personal. So, if you know that your clients love to celebrate certain things, either family occasions, certain holidays, any of that, try to do the gifting around that. If you know that your clients are gluten-free or have dietary restrictions, send them something that works for that. And if you know if your clients already have all the swag in the world that they really need – the mugs, the pens, that – don’t send them more of that. Send them something that they can really enjoy. And when they’re done with it, they’ll always have the note to remember you by. But I think the key is to know your clients and to keep it simple and meaningful.

Lee Kantor: And consistent.

Daphne Subar: Consistent. Consistent is key. You know, people want to be appreciated, especially in this impersonal world. Nothing is better than getting an unexpected gift and an unexpected handwritten note at your door once or twice during the year, or once or twice during a certain cycle. So, yeah, consistency and really just letting people know you appreciate them and that you’re grateful for what they’re doing.

Lee Kantor: Now, why was it important for you and your firm to become part of the WBEC West community? What did you hope to get out of it and what have you gotten out of it?

Daphne Subar: I was really excited to be part of the WBEC West community. I was actually encouraged by some other business owners to apply. I didn’t know a lot about it when I launched my business initially. Actually, I didn’t know a lot about running a business initially. I kind of learned a lot. So, once I learned about it, and I applied, and I became certified, it’s been an amazing community. The education they provide is outstanding, as well as meeting the other business owners and the ability to collaborate with them. I think that’s been great. Everyone I’ve met that’s part of the community is willing to help others to make suggestions. They’re just very, very supportive. So, it’s really been a lovely community, and I highly recommend it to anyone who qualifies.

Lee Kantor: Now, is there a story you can share about maybe one of your clients that you were able to help with a gifting strategy, or a way that they leveraged your expertise and products to make a difference to their community? You don’t have to name the name of the company, but maybe just explain what their challenge was and how you helped them with it.

Daphne Subar: Right. And there’s been several. So, let me think. I think one would be with a real estate client. And for real estate clients, really, a lot of it is they want their prior clients to keep them top of mind. And I know that I get various magazines and things in the mail, a lot from real estate companies or individual realtors. And honestly, I kind of walk them to the recycling bin. So, one real estate company that we’ve worked with, we implemented a gifting plan where on the year anniversary of when they either purchased or sold a house, they send a handwritten note with a small box of Subarz to that individual just saying, “Happy House anniversary,” or “We really enjoyed working with you a year ago, two years ago, three years ago.” I mean, we do this year after year after year. And that’s really helped them reconnect with their clients and keep them top of mind much more than the glossy magazine that shows up. That probably costs more than a box of Subarzs, honestly. And the recipients have really, really enjoyed the handwritten note and hearing from someone that they had worked with in the past on a fairly large transaction.

Lee Kantor: Now, if somebody wants to learn more, get a hold of the product, or have a conversation with you or the team about a gifting strategy for their firm, what is the website? What is the best way to connect?

Daphne Subar: So, the website is Subarzsweets.com. All the information about our products is on there. You can order individual ones. There’s also a link to our corporate gifting section on there. Alternatively, anyone can email me directly at Daphne@Subarzsweets.com.

Lee Kantor: Well, Daphne, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work and we appreciate you.

Daphne Subar: Thank you, Lee. It’s been a pleasure to be here and share my story. I really appreciate it.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Women in Motion.