Here's a piece of news that doesn’t call for a Trove Dessert’s vanilla celebration cake: the two-and-a-half-year-old gourmet dessert company is wrapping up its business for good.
Co-founders and sisters Karli Stol and Julia Witter posted a 15-minute YouTube video listing the many reasons why their young bakery cannot continue offering its signature dessert boards, caramel macchiato cakes and more — a "super difficult" decision they say they had no option but to make.
Stol and Witter launched the business at their parents' kitchen — which, ironically, was also the spot they chose to record their farewell announcement on June 13. From a family kitchen, they said, the business expanded into a shared commercial kitchen in Vancouver, and then to larger commissary kitchens as their cakes began to sell like, well, hotcakes.
Every time they moved, the sisters said, it got “busier and busier,” prompting them to expand in size.
Ultimately, there came a point where they decided it was time to get their own space. So, in January 2023, they began looking at potential kitchen spaces to set up their business, but ended up getting all their offers rejected, they said.
Though it was “disappointing,” they took it as a sign that probably this was not the way to go, they said in the video.
Meanwhile, the duo continued to spend long days in the commissary kitchen in New West whipping up their cakes — a routine that didn't seem sustainable. Stol, a new mom to a 10-month-old baby, increasingly felt the regret of not being able to spend enough time with her little one, she said.
To add to that, the sisters confessed, they weren’t earning enough — despite the community support.
Expanding the business meant getting a new hire, but adding new staff meant less profits; to tackle this conundrum, the duo sought advice from a marketing expert who said the next logical step for them would be to open a retail space where people could walk in and buy their products.
This aligned with what the sisters wanted for their business, they said.
“I want Trove to be a bakery so bad,” said Stol.
But starting a bakery at a point where they are already hard-pressed for time wasn’t the best idea, they decided. That, plus knowing that it takes about five years to make money after setting up a bakery, had them make the "tough decision" of hitting pause on their bakery dream and taking a step back from running their business.
Saturday, June 24 will be the last day for Trove Desserts.
“We are so thankful for the support that we have received so far. And we know that in changing our business, we are going to let people down. That’s really hard, especially when we have worked so far to grow that following,” said Witter.
But, as they clarified in an Instagram post, "This isn’t a forever goodbye, but a pivot into something new.”
Until then, the sisters promised they'll be in touch on Instagram and YouTube.
Shop for the last of the cupcakes and cookies at Trove’s closing sale on their website. Follow them on Instagram and YouTube for new recipes — the first one for Rhubarb white chocolate blondies is already out.
