Hey, hey, Everyone out there!
I’m Lauren, not Taylor, he is my van!
I’m currently 19 years old, nearly 20, and having been running VANILLA Sprinkles for nearly 3 years now.
It’s all started a bit before that though, well I have always loved to bake from a very young age, but I knew for sure at 15, that I loved it a lot more then most!
From there I taught myself more on to make cakes and cupcakes, from reading recipes to watching way too many YouTube videos. Cupcake Jemma, a British YouTuber picked by Jamie Oliver, was the one to really inspire me, with her path being slightly similar to mine.
So soon enough I was baking too much, for my family to consume, and well it was getting out of hand. So at 17, I had my home kitchen, registered with the City council. I then took out Public liability insurance, and began baking for others too! We did a lot to begin with, stalls, mother’s day orders, birthday cakes, just a lot to try and get it off the ground! At the time I was also blogging, and making videos too, of my baking!
I continued on my baking experience, working through a lot hospitality jobs, hoping to gain the experience I needed to run my business better.
Taylor, my Gorgeous Vintage Van, was a massive step for me! I had saved all my previous income from other jobs, and know knew it was time to take a leap of faith and invest in myself! So on my March 20th, 2019, I did exactly that!
I spent the next 6 months, planning, creating and building my van to be what it is now. Every single piece of that van, has atleast been placed in once, then removed and put back in, later. It was a lengthy process, but well worth it for both experience, and what I have now.
The van was finally finished by the end of August, when I held a launch party, to celebrate how far I had come and to show off the van to all my family and friends.
At this point, I was still only working part time on Taylor, and Vanilla Sprinkles. By the end September, I made my commitment, to quite my manager job, and make Vanilla Sprinkles my full time work!
Vanilla Sprinkles, was still just starting to get bigger, but I had planned events all the way up till Christmas, so I was mostly sorted.
Then I found my magical spot, at Point Peron, it was really pure luck! I had heard back from where I applied in October, that I would have a permit to trade from there in November! From December onwards, we have been there as many times as we can, and are now there regularly from Wednesday to Monday!
And that’s really, what I’m doing now, just going along for the ride, of what my van brings, till I’m ready for the biggest step of my dream, the shop!