“I have a huge sweet tooth,” said Community High School junior and French Fortune Business owner Kanako Fujioka. French Fortune is a macaron business that Fujioka created.
Fujioka, who has been baking since elementary school, saw that macarons were rising in popularity. “And they look really cute so I wanted to try to bake them,” she said. Last year, Fujioka baked her first macarons during spring break and spent the entire week enhancing her recipe. She went through 12 batches before she got it right and has been addicted to baking them since then.
A friend suggested that Fujioka start a macaron business. Fujioka researched the kinds of businesses she could own and came across cottage food businesses. This kind of business allows people to bake at their house without getting their kitchen inspected. There are a few constraints that come along with cottage food business’s, though. She has to sell the macarons directly to her customers so she cannot sell them to any stores. “There are lots of restrictions that are kind of limiting,” said Fujioka. In the future she might consider getting out of the cottage food business, but she would have to decide if it is worth the monetary investment she would have to make.
Too dry, too moist, too crunchy. Fujioka likes getting these kinds of critiques on her creations. She has asked CHS English teacher Tracy Anderson to critique her macarons in the past. “If I make the perfect macaron then I’ll bring it to Tracy to get her approval,” she said. Fujioka’s friend and one of her best customers, CHS junior Ella Bourland, is also one of her biggest critiquers. “I’m still like not perfect at baking macarons. I’m still working on it,” Fujioka said.
When Fujioka imagined owning a bakery with her friends she told them that they would have to handle the business side because she did not want to deal with money. However, since Fujioka is running this business on her own she has to closely track her sales and expenses. She got a $250 loan from her parents and has not yet broken even. She spends money on ingredients and packaging, but also she also spends money on electricity and puts time and work in so if you add those things up, her expenses would be more than $250.
She sells a single macaron for $1.50 and a box of five macarons for $8. French Fortune has been up and running for about four weeks and so far she made $50 during her most successful week. Some weeks Fujioka only made $10. She would make more money at most other jobs but she does not mind because she is doing something that she loves. She tries to block the money out of her mind. “I just like baking and I like it when people enjoy my confections,” she said.
She bakes around 20 macarons in each batch, and usually bakes one batch a week but if she runs out she bakes a second one. She tries to bake them on the weekends so that she has a new flavor each week. So far she has made earl gray, mocha, green tea, strawberry and lemon. Fujioka limits herself to only eating the macarons that get messed up. She eats about one a week. She adds a fortune in the packaging of all her macarons for fun which is what inspired the name French Fortune.
During this time of the year, Fujioka would usually spend her time playing water polo. However, she decided not to play this year but wanted to fill her extra time with another activity. So balancing school and her business has not been an extreme challenge since she has a little more free time. But sometimes she would rather bake than do homework, so she saves her homework for last.
Fujioka’s friends and family are helping her spread the word. Fujioka got a message from someone she never met on Facebook asking to order a box of macarons. Her mom helps by selling them at work. Fujioka uses social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr to advertise. “It’s really nice because people have been talking about it for me,” Fujioka said.
Listen to Karen Schleh, Katie Taub and Sofie Sylvester talk about the macarons.
