The Pink Bakery, a Black woman-owned vegan bakery near Memphis, Tennessee, is one of many recipients of a $10,000 grant from international superstar Beyoncé. Nubian Simmons, its founder and owner, says that she is very thankful for the financial support because, like so many other businesses, she has been greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The grant was given through the Black-Owned Small Business Impact Fund, which is a partnership effort between Beyoncé's nonprofit BeyGood and the NAACP.
"I'm still on a high from [the] announcement and I cannot believe that my company is sitting on Beyonce's website right now with the other recipients from Round 2," Simmons told VegNews, saying the pandemic "almost destroyed us completely" when they had to stop taking custom baking orders.
Now, she plans to use the grant money to pay off business debt, purchase more raw materials, and improve their product packaging.
Founded in 2014, The Pink Bakery initially specializes in custom-made desserts that do not have the top eight allergens like milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, and soy as ingredients. Eventually, they switched to creating and selling their own baking mixes in accordance with the new no-contact rules.
"Although the baked goods accounted for 75 percent of our business, we now had to put all of our efforts into the super easy baking mixes that we used to bake for everyone," Simmons said. "The mixes actually turned out to be the perfect solution. We didn't have to worry about spoilage or damage with the mixes. We were also able to ship them nationwide via the USPS and provide contactless delivery to our customers' homes."
As of now, The Pink Bakery offers baking mixes such as No Frownie Brownies Mix and Mama’s Favorite Chocolate (Chocolate Chip Cake Mix). Simmons says that they are set to launch more products soon.
For more information about The Pink Bakery and/or to order online, visit ThePinkBakery.com or follow the brand on Instagram @ThePinkBakeryDM