BUSINESS PROFILES // BUTTERBING – Simone Clark

Tell us about your business – when did you start it and what is it all about?
I own and manage Butterbing Cookie Sandwiches. We wholesale brownie cookie sandwiches to cafes across Australia. The company started in my home kitchen in 2014, now the team and I bake and deliver about a tonne of cookies each week. We work closely with many of Melbourne’s speciality coffee roasters and cafes. I’m lucky to surrounded by 15+ amazing women who I share the Butterbing journey with.

What inspires you to do what you do every day?
I’m not sure where my obsession with Butterbing comes from, but it totally consumes me! Working in Butterbing is an endless project that I get to tweak and improve daily. I work a lot, but I feel free, because I choose the path the company takes. My mind is constantly in the future, thinking about where I can take the company and what we can do to improve. It’s very rare that I don’t feel like going to work.

What is next for your business?
Cakes! At the moment we make one type of cookie. We’re developing a range of cakes for our Melbourne cafe customers as we speak. It’s very exciting and it’s great to have some variety in the kitchen. We’ve spent the last few months testing and developing, and for the remainder of the year, we’ll gradually introduce new products on the market. They’ll be under a sister brand that we’re yet to name.

What other inner north businesses inspire you?
I sometimes work at The Commons in Collingwood, a coworking space filled with small businesses. I often find my chats with Made by Fressko of great value. They’re the creators of the original glass flask for tea and fruit-infused water. They’ve been so successful that they always have competition biting at their heals. It’s inspiring to see how quickly they adapt and move forward to remain industry leaders.

What’s your top health hack as a business owner for readers?
Leave your laptop at work and don’t work in the evening. Running your own business can be relentless because you can literally never finish your to-do list. Become comfortable with ‘unfinished’ work otherwise you’ll be constantly stressed.

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