Local entrepreneur targets meal-kit families with new baking box

At home during the early stages of the pandemic with two young kids, Alissa Raphael felt herself drawn to baking but didn't always have what she needed on hand. She was taking limited trips to the grocery store, which was constantly out of flour and yeast - and everyone was getting tired of her go-to recipe, banana bread.

The Dundas mom was already a subscriber to Hello Fresh, a meal-prep service that ships dinner ingredients and a recipe, so she started looking for the equivalent for baking - and didn't find anything. She reached out to Larissa Esquivel, a friend she'd met taking courses at George Brown College's cooking school, and a business was born.

It's not just your cake mix in a box," said Raphael, who launched UBake Box with Esquivel in late November. It's gourmet baking. An upscale Betty Crocker (that allows customers to) make bakery-style desserts at home."

The business offers one-off orders or a monthly subscription, with recipes including pecan squares, carmelitas (caramel squares), gluten-free chocolate cake and some very fancy-looking cupcakes. There are also recipes targeted at kids, with licensed Barbie and Hot Wheels-themed adornments for the desserts.

Each UBake Box comes with essential baking tools - such as the proper-sized recyclable pan for the recipe - and premeasured shelf-stable ingredients in recyclable bags. For some recipes, customers add their own perishable ingredients, such as butter, milk or eggs. Bakers can use lactose-free or vegan milk substitutes in the recipes, and the cupcake icing used in UBake recipes can also be made vegan.

Prices for the one-off items range from about $12.95 for M&M cookies, to about $35 for some of the squares, with recipes making 12-16 servings. Shipping is extra, although there is free local delivery in Hamilton and Toronto. They have already shipped boxes across Canada.

While Raphael is the product's target market - a mom of young kids without much free time - Esquivel is a chef and baker who was working at the Art Gallery of Ontario until COVID-19.

She is the type of person who weighs her milk," says Raphael, who is a lawyer by training. I took (cooking) classes but am by no means a chef and a baker. I told Larissa, Write your recipe but you have to test it out on someone like me ... Not like you.'

This is for really busy people who don't have the time to measure things out."

Esquivel says long hours went into developing recipes that can be executed by someone with little experience, but that produce baked goods that look and taste high-end.

We were working 12 hours a day for weeks," she said. These are tried and tested recipes that will turn out."

One of the most unexpected challenges, considering the product, was getting taste-tasters for the recipes. With gatherings and focus groups not an option, they spent a lot of time driving porch drop-offs to friends.

We were working around COVID all the time," said Esquivel, describing trips to ingredient suppliers where they were required to wear masks, but also had to taste food. They took their own photos, got graphic design help from a friend, and ended up adding a third partner to the ownership team, Danny Miles, when they realized they needed help with the financial aspect of the business.

They now face the daunting task of getting potential customers to take notice.

Once people have tried our product, they have loved it and asked for more," Raphael said, adding, Baking is not a fad."

Saira Peesker is a freelance writer who lives in Hamilton.