Today we’d like to introduce you to Veronica Vidaurri.
Hi Veronica, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Growing up, I looked up to my mom and admired her cooking and baking. She was always in the kitchen making the best cakes and most delicious cookies. My favorite cookies were the hojarascas, they are a type of shortbread cookie with cinnamon and just melt in your mouth! Many people know them as Mexican Wedding cookies. She made beautiful and delicious cakes too! I loved baking too but said… why don’t people bake for dogs? Living in Kyle, Texas my entire life, there was nothing like that around, so to me it was new… not knowing that Austin was saturated with it.
In 2009, I started my baking journey. However, this was not a bakery for people, it was for their four-legged fur babies! I made decorated dog treats and cakes for them and struggled to get my business off the ground for six years. With Austin being saturated with dog-friendly people, I thought it was going to be a great fit, plus I LOVE dogs!
I started off donating treats to Love-a-Bull and helping them raise money at their events. I always volunteered and set up a booth at their events, the name of my business was Dog Gone Krayzie. The idea behind it was that the dogs would go crazy for my treats. Every time I set up a booth, it was the people going crazy for them because they thought they were sugar cookies. My mom would tell me “Why don’t you make sugar cookies instead? They would sell more than your dog treats would.” My response was always the same “Because dogs won’t complain about how they look or how they taste, they will just eat them.” So, my mom supported me and my decision but she always said to me that I would do so much better if I made sugar cookies.
In 2014, I had last event at the Texas Sized Pittie Pride Parade on Republic Square Park in Austin. At this event, I did as my momma told me. I made my first batch of sugar cookies, I decorated them and took donations for them. All proceeds went to Love-A-Bull. I made about four dozen cookies, not much but they were all gone in an hour. People kept coming back asking for more. It was that day that I realized my mom was right and I should have listened to her years ago! After that event, I began baking for friends and family. My mom was always beside me supporting me.
This year, I lost my mom due to Leukemia, it came so fast. She was my greatest fan, biggest supporter and what kept me going through this journey. I took a break for a few months from baking cookies and realized something was missing and it wasn’t just my mom. It was my customers, my friends. When I was informed about winning 2nd place for Best Bakery in North Hays, I was in tears. It was then that I realized that my customers, friends and family are what keep me going and make this dream possible.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s never a smooth road. Trying to start a business from the ground up is very hard. When I started off with Budaful Sweets, I found out I was weeks pregnant. I was working a full-time job, and I continue to do so now. My son was born at 25 weeks and was in the NICU at St. Davids Medical Center for 2.5 months. During his stay at the NICU, I was diagnosed with Pseudo Tumor Ceribri (PTC) and lost my eyesight. It took about eight months for me to get it back completely. PTC is a condition where the spinal fluid stays in the brain cavity and builds pressure on the nerves, causing headaches, vision loss and nerve damage. Unfortunately, this has happened to me twice now. It’s unfortunate because I’ve had to cancel orders for customers and the vision loss happens from one day to the next. I go to bed fine and can wake up not being able to see a thing and need to be rushed to the hospital.
Working a full-time job, raising a family, and trying to start a business in something you love and enjoy to do is challenging. You have to try to balance everything out and make sure you give everything the right amount of attention it needs and deserves. As soon as I’m off from work, it’s time to get my son from school, get dinner ready and then the baking process or decorating process begins. It calls for long hours and late nights and booking family time on my calendar so I don’t book orders for those dates.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I specialize in custom sugar cookies. All my cookies are made from scratch from a homemade recipe as well as my icing. I prefer to use Almond in my recipe over Vanilla as I believe the taste is richer.
I like to personalize people’s cookies. I’ve done hand-painted cookies a number of times and really enjoyed them. My favorite were the ones I made for New Belgium Brewing Co. If someone were to ask me if I could do a particular design or image, I have a bad habit of saying “Yes”. Then when it comes down to it, I stress myself out but still Nail It!
I’m really proud of how far I’ve come along. I actually surprise myself a lot on some orders. I say, “wow, those came out really good” and I admire my own work.
Along with sugar cookies, I make drop cookies (chocolate chip, reese’s peanut butter, Oreo peppermint ), wedding cookies and hojarascas (Mexican wedding cookies). And in the fall, my all time favorite bourbon pecan pie.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
The entire baking and decorating process make me happy. It may sound odd but it’s a zone of my own and I enjoy it. It also makes me happy to know people enjoy the product they receive and I get to build a relationship with my customers. I get to be a part of their events and memories.
I love being creative and working with people… I think just the thought of making their event special, making the person they are gifting them to feel special, happy and loved, that makes me feel good.
I also enjoy seeing my son learning to love to be in the kitchen, it brings back memories and builds a special bond.
Pricing:
- Sugar Cookie Pricing is based on size and detail of each cookie. Most common decorated cookies are 3″
- Drop Cookies – $15 a dz
- Hojarascas – $6.75 a lb
- Wedding Cookies – $6.75 a lb
- Bourbon Pecan Pie – $17
Contact Info:
- Email: budafulsweets@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/budaful_sweets/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BudafulSweets/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp8Lv32FieF01TVG3L16Fww
