baked with pride in the hudson valley
little loaf bakeshop
2023-2024 recap
This has been another transformative year for Little Loaf.
We closed a $450K SBA loan (a massive feat in and of itself), ran a successful Kickstarter campaign that brought in an additional $25K, built a brand new bakery from scratch, nearly cracked $500K in revenue out of a tiny incubator kitchen, grew our team by a third, increased our social following and engagement, landed our first press features, and went through a brand refresh.
Check out more of the details below!
A Bigger Little Loaf
In late 2023, while Colleen and I were working a farmers market, a longtime customer came up and said she’d been watching our business grow for a while and wanted to know what our next move was. When we shared our hopes for the future, she suggested we connect with her boss, who happened to be renovating a building in New Paltz. One conversation led to another, and now, a year later, we’re about to move into that very building—a place that will fully be our home.
After a year of intense ups and downs, we are now ready to take on this huge and exciting leap forward for Little Loaf.
Read on to learn more about what all we did in 2024 to get us to this point.
A few small “projects…”
Financing
By the end of 2022, with two years of business and solid financials under our belt, we qualified for an SBA loan. Despite its challenges (anyone who has received an SBA loan knows the pain), the lower interest rate and added support made it worth pursuing. Anticipating our move from the incubator kitchen, we tackled the next steps: five-year financial projections and a detailed project estimate based on architectural drawings. With guidance from the Acceleration Project and a strong legal, financial, and architectural team, we secured the loan from the folks at Pursuit Lending—after 10 anxiety-filled months!
Assembling our Support Squad
Having rock-solid legal and financial support was, and continues to be, crucial to this project (and beyond)—people we could ask “dumb” questions without feeling judged. We were lucky to find local partners who now know our business inside and out, explain things clearly and patiently, and have become folks we trust implicitly.
Then, there’s therapy. I believe all leaders, especially anyone managing people, should be in therapy. And if you’re in business with your partner/spouse, couples therapy is a non-negotiable. It’s been huge for our relationship and our business.
Architecture & Fit-Out
It was hugely important to us to find the right architect. We wanted a local, smaller firm that understood the Hudson Valley, cared about sustainability, and had a diverse team. After some searching, we found River Architects. They understood us and our vision—and were incredibly patient with how hands-on we wanted to be. :)
We also leaned on Colleen’s industry mentors—bakery owners from the Bay Area—to help shape the kitchen design. Working closely with the architects, we dug into every detail: picking tiles for the floors and counters, choosing baking equipment (our rack oven is a dream), and even finding the perfect dishwasher to make washing sheet pans easier on our team. Every decision was intentional, always putting our team first while balancing practicality and sustainability.
Construction So Far
we’re getting close to crossing the finish line! Check back in early January for finalized photos of the space.
Successfully Funded
Kickstarter Campaign
Our customers asked how they could support us—and we definitely needed the extra help (aka $$)!—so we launched a Kickstarter campaign featuring unique rewards and swag. Thanks to nearly 200 backers, we hit our $25K goal in just 30 days.
Check out the campaign page to see how we set it up and what we offered!
The biggest driver of our success might be the outtakes reel from our Kickstarter video that our friend Ame put together!!
2024 Digital Marketing Recap
This year, we saw substantial growth in our website and social media, especially with the announcement of our new bakery.
New website users increased by 142.6%, and active users rose by 145.9%, reflecting enhanced brand awareness and engagement.
Social media followers grew by nearly 60%, adding 2,500 new followers and boosting organic traffic by 121.2%. Users spent 31.4% more time on the site, improving customer relations and driving sales.
Purchases for special events and farmers markets surged 413.3%, driven by items like our popular Pretzel and Chocolate Croissants.
SEO efforts led to a 319.5% visibility increase for key pages. This multi-channel approach significantly strengthened Little Loaf’s presence and achieved notable year-over-year growth. Check out more details to the right. ➔
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New Users: Up 142.6% YoY, indicating significantly increased brand visibility and successful marketing efforts driving first-time visitors.
Active Users: Increased 145.9%, reflecting better engagement and retention through improved user experience and relevant content.
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Direct Traffic: Up 192.3%, showing strong brand recognition or repeat visitors.
Organic Search: Up 118.5%, reflecting successful SEO strategies and increased search engine visibility.
Referral Traffic: Up 201.4%, suggesting increased backlinks or media mentions driving external traffic.
Organic Social: Up 121.2%, highlighting the impact of social media marketing through increased engagement and content visibility.
Email Campaigns: Although small in number, up 218.2%, indicating a potential area for scaling direct marketing efforts.
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Average Engagement Time: Up 31.4% to 57 seconds, indicating that users are spending more time interacting with content, suggesting improved on-site experience and relevance.
Top Events:
Page Views: Up 143% (55K views), reflecting increased visibility and interest in key site content.
User Engagement: Up 136.4%, showing higher interaction rates, likely due to better content targeting and website optimization.
Form Starts: Up 665.9%, indicating a surge in customer interest and potential leads generated through site forms (namely, catering).
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Page Views: Significant growth in impressions indicates increased visibility on search engines and higher user interest. Top-performing pages include:
"Vegan Bakery in Poughkeepsie" aka Home Page (+319.5%), driven by strong local SEO and relevant keyword targeting.
"Where to Find Little Loaf Pastries" (+337.4%), reflecting enhanced search engine rankings and successful content optimization targeting local and product-specific searches.
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Purchases: Up 413.3%, driven by popular items such as our Chocolate Croissants, Pretzel Croissants, and Caramel Apple Crumb Danishes. This significant increase suggests strong demand for signature products, fueled by effective marketing, improved product visibility, and repeat customer purchases.
Key Drivers:
Product Pages: Optimized product pages and appealing product descriptions likely contributed to higher purchase rates.
Seasonal Promotions: Seasonal offers drove increased sales, particularly from new users.
User Engagement: Higher engagement metrics likely translated directly into more conversions.
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Reach
Total: 68.8K (11.7% growth compared to previous year).
Key Insight:
Sustained growth across the year reflects improved visibility and audience engagement
Visits
Total: 32.2K (52.4% increase).
Key Insights:
Notable spikes around September 7 and October 27, suggesting effective call-to-action strategies or promotions. (The Vegan Market in Beverly & Kickstarter Final Push)
Significant year-over-year improvement highlights successful tactics to drive traffic and engagement.
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Total: 2.5K new followers added this year, bringing the total follower count to 6,675.
Growth Rate:
Follower growth represents a 59.9% increase over the starting base of 4,175 followers at the beginning of the year.
This impressive growth highlights successful audience-building strategies, driven by impactful campaigns and consistent content quality.
Key Insights:
Steady growth throughout the year demonstrates an ongoing ability to attract and retain an engaged audience.
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Doubled reviews to 62 and retained a 5 star rating. Here are a few faves:
Absolutely delicious pastries! I’ve always wanted to try vegan desserts and treats but had the misconception that they wouldn’t be as good. However, these were amazing! I highly recommend giving them a try.
We ate in and left clutching two boxes filled with treats for us and friends. Everyone was welcoming and the service wonderful. People clearly love their jobs and enjoy sharing their enthusiasm. And the baked goods: Amazing. Heaven for vegans and future vegans alike. Adding on to the above: we bought several items for a special dinner: pies, breads. The only problem is that I can't stop eating them. So, so good. I cannot wait until they open in New Paltz.
Brand Refresh
We wanted our new location to make a splash with fresh packaging, swag, and experiential design. Serendipitously, two of our first—and most loyal—customers turned out to be the power-couple designers we needed. Kate is an expert in wallpaper, murals, and hand-painting; while Scott excels in brand design and illustration.
Collaborating closely, they expanded on our current brand look and feel (initially brought to life by our friends at Sketchdeck) to create a suite of design pieces that we couldn’t be happier with. It’s hard to pick a favorite element, but if we had to choose: 1) the bathroom murals, which reveal something new every time and perfectly capture our brand, and 2) our new box design, which encourages reuse. With returnable food packaging likely becoming a future industry standard, this helps our customers get into that mindset now.
Take a look at some of the design highlights, below
