SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Kyla Wright, Briony Wright and Erica Robinson didn't mean to set out to be female entrepreneurs.
Kyla Wright, Erica Robinson and Briony Wright stand in front of their Three Sisters Bakery booth at the Yellowknife Farmer's Market June 9. All the goods sold are either free from dairy, gluten, eggs, wheat or are vegan. - Karen K. Ho/NNSL photo
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"Recognizing that everyone can enjoy something sweet and savoury and not have to worry about how they may feel afterwards," Kyla said.
The cheerful trio of born and raised Northern siblings are behind the Three Sisters Bakery, one of the new booths at this year's Yellowknife Farmer's Market. The company's specialty offerings are free from allergens such as wheat, gluten, dairy and eggs, as well as free from refined sugar, raw (not cooked over 118 degrees Fahrenheit), vegan or vegetarian. Popular items include coconut bars, vegan chocolate cupcakes, nut-free cocoa "bliss balls" and a weekly feature that includes a Northern, locally-sourced ingredient, such as spruce tips or dandelion roots.
Kyla had heard from her clients at her clinic and parents of children with allergies who desperately missed the being able to have some sort of cupcake or dessert. While her family had been experimenting in the kitchen for years, she realized their experience was a luxury.
"Not all families have time to figure it out," she told Yellowknifer, while sitting next to her sisters at Javaroma.
"We realized we had to make it ourselves," Briony said.
The women have already received custom orders for events, such as cupcakes for birthday parties. "We wanted them to be delicious for everyone, and you wouldn't know it was different," Kyla said.
Erica said the family was always interested in eating and making allergy-free goods. She called the public reaction to their bakery amazing, pointing out the interest in their social media pages has taken off without the need for extra "likes" from their family and friends.
"We wanted social media to be something that was part of the start," Briony said, calling it great market research for what customers wanted or for gauging demand for a certain item. "The support from the community has been pretty profound."
In addition to the more than 250 "likes" on Facebook, the women said their online pages have resulted in orders from as far away as the East Coast, and comments from customers who said their booth was what drew them to the market. Aside from their pages on Facebook, Instagram and word-of-mouth, the sisters have done no other advertising.
The three women have done well so far, selling out two weeks in a row at the market despite upping their inventory from four dozen of each item to five.
The sisters attribute a lot of their success to the combination of their professional backgrounds -- Kyla's a naturopathic doctor at the Gaia Integrative Clinic, Briony works in communications for the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment and and Erica recently completed an internship at the department, but is currently not working.
Even with her five-month-old and status as the youngest sister, Erica spends the most time out of all three siblings on the new business.
"It's close to a full-time job," she said.
Kyla also takes Tuesdays off to help bake as well as take care of her one-year-old and Erica's newborn. "It probably takes longer with the kids around," Erica said with a laugh.
The three sisters have committed to half of the 16 weeks the Farmer's Markets is scheduled to run. "So we could still have a summer," Briony and Erica chimed in unison.
The bakery tries to source as many of its ingredients as locally as possible, but the women admit that they would have to charge a lot more if they didn't buy certain things in bulk from southern retailers. They cited difficulty in finding large quantities of unsalted, unroasted, raw nuts and gluten-free flours.
So far funding for the Three Sisters Bakery has just come from the siblings themselves, who estimate they have have invested about $1,500 just for materials on top of their registration fees.
The company has a strong visual brand through their bright pink, white and black logo featuring a whisk, rolling pin, heart and three cupcakes. Designed by a coworker of Kyla's, the logo is emblazoned on each of the sisters' aprons, much of their packaging and even a large wooden sign painted by Briony's boyfriend, which is proudly set up at their booth each week.
Even though a recent batch of vegan herb and cheese scones went awry, (Kyla called them dog biscuits) the sisters admit that being in a family business hasn't been as stressful as they were warned it would be. Kyla said it helps that each sibling is aware of each other's strengths and limitations.
"We're really honest with each other," Briony said. "We can always talk it out over a cupcake."
The sisters' next appearance at the Farmer's Market will be June 23, as well as the Canada Day weekend.
