Short Summary
My name is Casey Harris, I am the owner/lead baker at No Regrets Bakery in Alvord, Texas. This has been a surprising journey for us. It began with a warning from our doctors about 3 years ago that our blood sugar had come back high two times in a row, which resulted in us making drastic changes in our diet and lifestyle. Gone was the refined sugar and wheat. In was exercise and whole, natural foods. I lost over 60lbs and my husband lost over 40. My husband never lost his sweet tooth so I began modifying recipes to make them healthier and low glycemic (this was a defense mechanism to keep him on the path to wellness). We discovered that sugar wasn't the only problem, it was serving size. I began taking 90% of what I made to the gym (out of site, out of mind). The trainers and other people at the gym began ordering and No Regrets was born as a cottage industry. When a restaurant called to order our hamburger buns we knew it was time to get a commercial kitchen and open the bakery.
Our name says it all - we want everyone to be able to enjoy dessert without regrets. Our bakery is totally gluten free, using all natural ingredients and is primarily paleo (grain and dairy free). There are no artificial colors, flavors, or sweeteners used in any of our products. We also do not use any refined sugar. We want diabetics to be able to enjoy a sweet treat without regret as well, so all of our items have a low glycemic index and are sweetened with things like coconut sugar, agave, yacon, stevia and fruits.
We started out in a very small space in a very rural location (close to home) just to see if our dream would fly. It has soared, we have doctors sending their diabetic patients to us, their celiac patients and their autistic patients along with bariatric centers sending their patients. We have had so many happy tears in our bakery during this first year from parents who have never been able to take their child to a bakery or from people who haven't been able to have fesh bread in several years.
We are now 11 months into this venture and have totally outgrown our location. We can't meet the needs of our clients so we need to grow. This campaign is to help open a new location in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex where we can reach more people who need us and can have more space to make more goodies.
This bakery began as a way to pay it forward. We want to continue pay this forward - our plan is to work with schools and trade schoools to find those students that re interested in culinary arts and show them that this lifestyle is an opportunity to make a difference in their lives and others. We also pledge to donate 5% of the profits from our final project to fund other Indiegogo campaigns.
We are not closing our Alvord bakery, we have to many customers in that area. We are opening a SECOND location.
What We Need & What You Get
The total cost for our new bakery is going to be about $44,000, we are hoping to raise $22,900 of that through this campaign.
Where will the money go?
1) Indiegogo and PayPal fees
2) Equipment (everything Plus the kitchen sink) The current location has all the basics including refrigerators, freezers, ice machine and even tea and coffee makers. We added the cookie oven.
3) Fees for new location (inspections,permits,etc)
Our budget:
$3,000 kitchen and hand sinks
$4,500 fridges and freezer
$3,900 Oven
$2,000 Ice Machine
$2,000 Smalls (tea & coffee machines, mixers, racks)
$3,000 refrigerated display case
$2,500 fees
$2,000 ingredients
The figures may seem low for the equipment, however we did really well on auctions for our purchases at the first bakery and we plan to buy as much as we can from restaurant auctions or estate sales this time around as well.
If we don't reach our entire goal, we buy as much equipment as we can and lease the remainder until we have enough capital to purchase any remaining equipment.
What you get for your contribution:
A HUGE THANK YOU! A spot on our donors wall at the new bakery - for all donations!
$10 - A huge thank you and a spot on our donor wall. (unlimited)
$25 - 1/2 dozen assorted power balls. Our power balls are all natural, vegan and raw. Cooked in a dehydrator for a long period of time at low temps they last a long time (unless you eat them all right away). (80 available)
$50 - 1/2 dozen assorted power balls and 1/2 dozen assorted turbo balls. Our turbo balls are prepared the same way as the power balls but they have guarana instead of maca and are great pre-workout snacks. (40 available)
$100 - 1 dozen assorted raw protein bars. These bars are vegan and packed with nuts and dried fruit, a great snack or breakfast. (20 available)
$500 - 1 dozen assorted raw protein bars. 1 Dozen power balls and 1 dozen turbo balls and an "I Indulged with No Regrets" t-shirt (10 available)
$1,000 - 2 dozen assorted raw protein bars. 1 dozen power balls and 1 dozen turbo balls and an "I Indulged with No Regrets" t-shirt (5 available)
$1,300 - Bakers dozen (13) each of 2 kinds of raw protein bars and a bakers dozen each of power balls and turbo balls and an "I Indulged with No Regrets t-shirt" (3 available)
$2,000 - 1 dozen of each flavor of 3 kinds of raw protein bars (3 dozen total) and a dozen of each flavor of power balls (5 dozen total) and a dozen each flavor of turbo ball (2 dozen total) and an " I Indulged with No Regrets" t-shirt (2 available)
Look in the gallery for pictures of the power, turbo, and protein bars that we'll be sending out as perks
The Impact
No Regrets Bakery has had a huge impact in our community. It is the only bakery of it's kind within at least an our of it's current location. About 40% of our customers travel from over 60 miles away.
Other Ways You Can Help
Spread the word about our campaign, please use the Indiegogo share tools to pass our campaign along to others.
If you have other ways to support, please contact us noregretsbakery@yahoo.com
