How I Turned My Last $5 to $10,000,000

Business
Published on Aug 3, 2023
The Cupcake Collection has become a Nashville institution, and its founder Mignon Francois a local hero. She built a $10 million cupcake business starting from almost nothing, and you’ll learn how she did it in this interview.

Mignon started The Cupcake Collection in the midst of the 2008 recession. She was experiencing a downturn of her own, and used just about the last $5 to her name to buy ingredients for cupcakes. Mignon wasn’t a baker, but she had her grandma’s cupcake recipe and a will to succeed. By the end of that first week she’d turned $5 into $600 and the growth snowballed from there.

One way Mignon made a name for The Cupcake Collection was by starting the Cupcake Bus, the first mobile cupcake seller in the Nashville area. In this interview, she talks about how she got that idea and why it was so instrumental in growing her baking business. She’ll also share how she found the first customers for her cupcakes and built her team—all without going into debt or taking out any loans.

After the success of her first shop, Mignon opened a new location in New Orleans. This new location was an opportunity for growth but it also brought new challenges. She explains how she overcame those challenges and the lessons she learned along the way. One thing Mignon has done from the start is listen to her customers and team, and she shares how that feedback has helped her grow her business to such impressive heights.

If you want to learn more about getting started in the food industry, check out some of our past interviews:

Bakery Business Rakes Huge Profits (INSANE How Much It Makes) ►
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2_xwBgyFFU

How to Make $1.7M/Year in Restaurant Business ►
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAZeAV05KLw

Resources
https://www.thecupcakecollection.com/ - Learn more about the Cupcake Collection on their website
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BV7G8F7C - Mignon’s memoir, Made from Scratch: Finding Success without a Recipe
https://www.upflip.com/courses - Get step-by-step guidance to start a business with UpFlip’s courses
https://www.upflip.com/newsletter - Subscribe to the UpFlip newsletter to get insights delivered straight to your inbox

Timestamps:
00:00 - START
00:43 - Meeting Mignon
03:46 - How many cupcakes per day?
05:11 - Biggest challenges
06:14 - Cupcake truck
06:32 - Marketing strategies
08:13 - Fan Blitz
09:43 - Team management
11:21 - New Orleans store
12:51 - Marketing with no money
14:42 - Profit margins
15:40 - Finding motivation
17:14 - Creating unique value
18:10 - Learning the business
18:55 - Mindset
20:15 - Taking risks
21:59 - The power of faith
23:57 - Balancing business and family
24:58 - Getting started in your 30s (or older)
25:53 - Outro

#cupcake #cupcakes #baking