Seniors Ellis Rougeou and Virginia Skipworth are co-owners of the Ginger Butter Baking Co., which started after the student council election of 2023. Before the results of the first round of voting, Rougeou and Skipworth had decided to start a baking business if they were not voted forward in the StuCo election process. They weren’t successful with their bids to join StuCo, but what was perhaps a disappointment at the time became a sweet victory in the long run.
Their menu consists of cupcakes, cake pops, cheesecakes, cookies, loaves, brownies, tea time treats, and cake.
One reason Rougeou fell in love with baking was her grandmother.
“I’ve always just watched her and admired the way she could kind of translate love and kindness into food, and so as I grew up that was kind of always an important part of my life too,” Rougeou said.
Some of their first steps in creating the baking business were designing a menu, downloading Venmo and creating a spreadsheet to keep track of orders.
While organizing and planning, Rougeou and Skipworth determine the prices of their treats based on how complicated their desserts are to make.
After pricing, they moved on to advertising with logos and Instagram. The pair post everything they bake, as well as menus, and they manage price changes and ordering through direct messages with their customers.
Skipworth and Rougeou hope to one day design a Google form and website to sell their products. For the time being, however, they will remain on Instagram.
While time management is a concern for Ginger Butter’s co-creators, Skipworth and Rougeou are able to balance school and entrepreneurship by leaning on one another.
“If one of us is super swamped and the other one’s not, we can always just switch,” Rougeou said.
Rougeou found that one of her favorite parts about having this business is having the time to do what she loves.
“It is a break for me that I get to take and kind of just have that calm collected time for myself and help someone in the process and give someone what they want,” Rougeou said.
After high school, Rougeou hopes to continue the business but knows that it is unlikely due to the fact that Skipworth and Rougeou will likely go to different colleges, so fans of Ginger Butter should enjoy the treats while they can.
