When Stewart Russell and his wife Courtney found themselves spending more time at home during the lockdown, it opened doors for a new business venture.
Two weeks ago the couple launched Well Baked Box, a local business that delivers a pre-packaged box of healthy ingredients and snack recipes so customers can bake and eat snacks guilt-free.
“Our feedback is fantastic. Everything is really easily put together, the instructions are clear, and the products taste delicious and people don’t really expect it given that we market it as a healthy alternative,” said Stewart about Well Baked Box which delivers across Guelph and Wellington County.
And it all started at the beginning of the pandemic.
Stewart, a fertility researcher, had just been laid off from work and Courtney, a naturopathic doctor, faced a decline in the number of patients due to the pandemic.
To kill the extra time, the couple with a passion about baking and healthy eating found themselves baking even more and realized there may be a potential business here.
One day when they ordered a HelloFresh Canada box, the idea of providing ingredients to create baked goods came to the healthy eating couple’s mind.
“We wanted the type of stuff that we liked to make which is usually gluten-free, usually vegan, always very healthy, we don’t put refined processed food in it at all. So they're low sugar and all around nutritious,” said Stewart.
“So we thought maybe we should look into this, if there isn't, this is a very promising market to get into.”
After doing some research, they found nothing out there that was in sync with their vision of a healthy and affordable snack packaged in an environmentally friendly box.
“We dug and dug and dug and dug and officially founded the company in June and officially launched Well Baked Box two weeks ago,” said Stewart.
Each Well Baked Box includes one to three recipes (depending on how much the customer ordered) and a bag of dry ingredients with the recipe card.
“All the ingredients are pre-proportioned and ready to bake,” said Stewart. “Most of our recipes don’t need eggs.”
“I think one of the things that brings me so much joy about baking is that I can feel comfortable and content giving them (in moderation) to my daughter and I don’t have to feel guilty or anxious about watching what she’s eating,” said Stewart about his two-year-old daughter.
The company launches three new recipes weekly. Currently, it's double chocolate zucchini muffins, almond butter chocolate chip cookies and old fashioned date squares.
Stewart said as the couple has been developing their mission for the business in the past few weeks, they have learned how important it is to hold a business like this in the market.
“Even those who make an effort on their meals will still snack and we want to make it easy to pick a healthy option,” said Stewart.
For the past three years, the couple has also been posting recipes of healthy foods that support their healthy lifestyle on their social media pages.
Stewart said the recipes would often include healthy substitutes for various ingredients which captured the interest of many followers who couldn’t find the substitute ingredients such as coconut flour or almond flour.
“At the end of the day, we realized, not everyone wants these big bags and spend $100 and try recipes and fail. There's definitely a market for people who want to try it and see if it works for them,” said Stewart.
“We really want people to change the way they look at snacking. We don’t want them to feel guilty. We want them to feel comfortable with what they're giving their children.”
The duo plans on expanding its business weekly.
“At the end of the year, we want to be in Toronto, but it’s just a matter of production,” said Stewart.
The boxes are currently packed at 10C in downtown Guelph.
“We’re really looking to make it larger and more viable because then we can decrease the cost of things too,” said Stewart.
