At 22, her baking biz is buzzing

By Zander Frost, Chronicle Staff Writer

Twenty-two-year-old Taylor Suprenant says her new Flour Child Bakery at 128 Glen Street feels “impossible.”

Why? “Because I’ve dreamed of this forever…I’ve always known that I wanted to open a business.”

The 2019 Fort Edward grad opened in February at the former home of Abby’s Cookie Jar.

It all began when “I was still in high school, and I was just baking to bake.” Then, “I noticed I was pretty decent at it.”

She posted pictures of her creations on social media “just for fun. And then people would ask me to make cakes and cupcakes for them, and then they just kept asking, so I just kept doing it.”

She said she didn’t even post items for sale, people approached her with orders directly. They turned into repeat customers. Now, Flour Child has over 2,700 Facebook followers.

Taylor said since opening, they’re frequently sold out. She said Glens Falls has welcomed her wholeheartedly.

Her popular items are cakes and cupcakes, and what she calls “curse cookies” — cookies with curse words written in icing — and macaroons.

Taylor said she is learning on the fly.

“I’m self taught” on making cakes. “I didn’t go to school for it or anything. I just YouTube, Pinterest, all sorts of things, just kind of doing it.

“When I started, it’s funny because I would use box mix and box frosting. And I would just do one layer.”

Now, her cakes are multi-layered and textured — covered with designs like flowers and mushrooms.

She said she’s also learning the “back end,” bookkeeping, taxes and paperwork herself too. “Learn it as you go,” she said.

Taylor initially got ahead of herself. She said that when she was 19, she sought an available storefront on Phila Street in Saratoga Springs.

She put together a business plan — but “they didn’t want to rent to me. They pretty much looked at me like a 19, 20 year old girl. They were like yeah, no.”

Now, “I am so thankful that that didn’t happen.”

“It set me down for a while. It was a big kick in the face,” she said. “You need that sometimes. Like, I had to be knocked down. I was 19. I was not ready.”

She spent the past few years working different jobs so she could keep baking.

Taylor said she worked several years as a mail carrier starting at age 18.

“And then I left the Post Office so I could bake more — because I was working like seven days a week,” she said.

“Then I worked at Umicore [the electrical materials business on Pruyn’s Island] because my hours were 6 a.m. to 2:30 [p.m.], so I could bake more.”

At Umicore, “I don’t even know how to explain it. It was like millwork! I literally put on my Carhartt pants and work boots and went to work,” she laughed.

“Just so I could get out and bake. I did what I could to have good hours.”

She said she got weekends off and, crucially, “an 11-day break at the holidays.”

“Holidays are the busiest time of the year for bakers. I had that full stretch to do whatever,” says Taylor.

“My whole world revolved around baking before anything else, really.”

Last August her friend Ashley Kopf, owner of Abby’s Cookie Jar, approached her and said she was “looking to get out.”

Taylor said she bought the business and all the assets in the space, and kept several staff members on.

Things have taken off quickly.

“We do have to turn custom orders away,” says Taylor. “We are very busy.”

Plus, “The girls are slowly learning decorating, but I’m the only decorator.”

Has she ever trained others to do what she does before? “No. It’s tough sometimes,” Taylor admits. “I’ve learned a lot of patience. I know we’ve only been here for six weeks, but it definitely teaches a lot of patience and at the end of day it’s just cake. It’s just cooking.”

“What’s the worst that’s going to happen, you have to rebake it?” she laughed.

Flour Child has big ambitions. “I would like to be able to do so much more. And we’re looking to be part of events.”

Their first will be the Glens Falls Brew Fest on Saturday, April 1, from 4 to 7 p.m. across the street at Cool Insuring Arena.

Copyright © 2023 Lone Oak Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved