Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Morrison
Hi Jessica, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Hi! We’re Jessica and Brandon, the tiny team behind the Baking Notification Project. We incubated the Baking Notification Project in our Nashville kitchen in Fall 2021. Since then, we’ve supported more than one hundred bakers with over a thousand subscribers to share many thousands of baked goods.
We both have backgrounds in journalism and technology, so we were able to leverage those skills into building a prototype and eventually a community of home bakers in Nashville and across the country that allows for the sharing of extra home-baked goods to their friends and neighbors.
We continue to be a small, independent tech business with a strong community-focus, and our greatest success is the friendships formed when neighbors meet again and again on front porches to share gifts of baked goods.
We’re so proud of what we’ve built, and we’re grateful to each one of you for being excited about the Baking Notification Project with us.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
We’ve had some bumps along the way! In 2023, we had to completely rebuild our onboarding process for new bakers due to regulatory changes in how SMS messaging is managed. Dubbed A2P 10DLC, it basically means that for any phone number that can send a text via an automated system, a person needs to be registered to be behind it. This was designed to help reduce spam text messages (which we’re all for!), but the rollout for texting providers was messy, and it took us a fair amount of time to get into compliance.
Home baking also was hugely popular during the early part of the pandemic, when we first started. It’s since then become less up front for folks, and we’ve been adjusting our approach for working with home bakers who may have more demands on their time than they might have a few years ago.
As you know, we’re big fans of The Baking Notification Project. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
The Baking Notification Project is an indie tech startup that connects home bakers with their neighbors to share extra baked goods. We’re based in Nashville, and we’ve been working with bakers throughout the U.S. for more than three years. The tech is a web-based product that allows bakers to send automated text messages to subscribers when they have extra baked goods to share. Our goal is to make the process of sharing offers and managing claims less onerous for bakers by providing structure and tech built for the job.
But the tech is only one part of the Baking Notification Project. The rest is what happens offline: neighbors meeting on front porches and apartment lobbies, popping up at community markets and events, gathering for cooking classes and monthly meetups. We’re thinking seriously as we head into 2025 about the offline experience and how we might adjust the business model for the Baking Notification Project to continue to prioritize community involvement and support.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
While Jessica is absolutely the better baker/cook in our household, Brandon has also started dabbling in bread baking, and is continuing to grow an appreciation for all the hard work bakers do to make tasty treats.
Pricing:
- To sign up as a baker on the platform, it’s $27/month
- To subscribe to a baker, bakers can either set a $10/15 per month fee, or can provide notificications at no cost.
- Most bakers also have an online tip jar for one-off contributions.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thebakingnotificationproject.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebakingnotificationproject/
Image Credits
Credit for image 4 (baking class) to Karri Suh
