Shoutout to that one Thursday in March when I had 6 custard orders in one day

I usually do maybe 2 or 3 orders a week from my home kitchen selling frozen custard. But last March, on a random Thursday, the phone rang 6 times before noon. Three were return customers, one was a church group ordering for a potluck, and two were new folks from a Nextdoor post I made 3 weeks earlier. I spent the whole afternoon mixing batches and barely had time to clean the churn between pints, but the total hit $180 which is way more than a typical week. Has anyone else had a day where the orders just piled up out of nowhere like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

jessicajohnson5d ago

Man, that Thursday sounds like a dream and a nightmare rolled into one. I had a similar day last summer where I was doing small batch pickles out of my garage and got slammed with 8 orders for a local farmer's market that doubled up on me. What worked was keeping a simple order sheet taped to my fridge with columns for flavor, quantity, and pickup time. Also, I started prepping extra base mix the night before so I wasn't scrambling for ingredients mid-day. The big money day taught me to always have a backup plan for cleaning and packaging between batches... maybe set up two stations if you can. It's wild how one good word on social media can just flood your day like that.

jamie_taylor2d ago

Told myself for years that social media posts were a waste of time for small food businesses like mine. Figured word of mouth and repeat customers were the only way to go. But that Nextdoor post from 3 weeks earlier brought in two new orders and one of them turned into a regular who orders every other week now. Still blows my mind how a single post can sit there for weeks then suddenly pay off like that. Definitely changed my view on putting stuff out there even if it feels like shouting into the void at first.